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LIVE UNDEAD: A SNAPSHOT OF LIVE METAL IN 2015

Nov 302015

(Wil Cifer penned these reviews of three November shows in Atlanta, Georgia.)

Here’s a snapshot of metal onstage and in the flesh. Over the course of the past week I caught three different metal shows at three different venues with the genres spanning from industrial to thrash to black metal.

The first of these was almost on the periphery of what most might consider metal when Author & Punisher played The Earl, a hipster dive bar with a venue in the back.

We arrived just in time to catch the Portland duo Muscle and Marrow. Never really gave their last studio album The Human Cry the time to immerse myself in it, but their live show changed the way I think of them. There are metal elements to what they do, but I would not call them a metal band. Even then, of the three shows, I would say they were the most emotionally heavy band of the week. This was channeled in a very honest physical manner. Singer/ guitarist Kira Clark’s voice goes from an almost black-metal-like scathing scream to a vulnerable soprano. The duo implemented samples and layers of vocals triggered from a laptop off stage, but in comparison to Author & Punisher they were very organic. Continue reading »

HATESPHERE: “NEW HELL”

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Nov 302015

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by Denmark’s HateSphere.)

Out of all the bands that came out of the post-Haunted neo-thrash movement, my two favorites — and I’d argue to a point the objective best — have been Carnal Forge and HateSphere. I was a rabid devotee of HateSphere’s first five albums, but then the majority of the band left and founding guitarist and song-writer Pepe Hansen was forced to find new blood. Their output has had varying results for me since then.

I loved the music of To The Nines but couldn’t stand the weak vocals of Jonathan Albrechtsen in place of the band’s original vocalist Jacob Bredahl, who was as feral as it got. I LOVED The Great Bludgeoning; it had riffs, it had aggression, it had frantic energy — and the new vocalist and still current vocalist Esben or “Esse” Hansen had that vomitus tone to his vocals that called back to Bredahl, and the result was that he fit the music quite a bit. I enjoyed SOME of the bands next record Murderlust, but I have to admit that a lot of it was really forgettable. The thing is, I still love this band, even if they aren’t exactly the same band I used to love, but the spirit is definitely still there.

So I guess the question is where does New Hell stand? Continue reading »

ANTLION: “THE PRESCIENT”

Album Reviews 9 Responses »

Nov 292015

The word “technical” is a frequently used word in the community of extreme metal. It seems to be used most often to describe the rendering of notes (or beats) at high speed and with impressive physical dexterity. But while those skills may be worth admiring for what they are, we all know that technical skill alone does not mean that the music it serves is worth applauding as a work of art. Even when that kind of flash-bang athleticism is employed creatively in songs that follow inventive, non-linear trajectories, it can still leave listeners cold. There is, after all, a lot of impressive mechanical frenzy in a washing machine with a busted counterweight, but your first impulse is to pull the plug as fast as possible.

However, when technical skill goes beyond even top-shelf levels of physical adroitness, when the musicians seem to have such an intuitive and deeply understood feel for their instruments, and when that kind of intimate mastery is joined with imagination, stylistic diversity, and a skill at songcraft that matches the performance techniques, then you get something really special. And that’s what Antlion have achieved with their debut album, The Prescient. Continue reading »

“THAT’S METAL!” — BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC (NO. 100)

That's Metal -- But It's Not Music 4 Responses »

Nov 292015

Photo by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre

Last weekend we celebrated the glorious sixth anniversary of our site, and today we present the glorious 100th edition of THAT’S METAL! We’re really covered in glory this month. I didn’t realize the stuff was so sticky. I feel like I need a shower even though a whole week hasn’t passed since the last one.

In celebration of this sticky event I thought about searching back through the previous 99 editions of the series, beginning with the first one back in January 2010, to compile a “best of” collection of items featured over the last six years. I then realized how much work that would be, so that ain’t happening. Instead I’ve got ten new items for you — all of them things I think are metal even though they’re not (metal) music. [I had to insert “(metal)” before “music” because a couple of today’s items do include music.]

However, I must give credit where credit is due: The first edition of this series was inspired by New Zealand blogger Steff Metal — and the image at the top of this post from a series of photos of abandoned buildings in Detroit was lifted from her blog in that first edition. When I wrote it, I didn’t call it “No. 1”, because I had no plan to make it a continuing series. Steff, of course, is innocent of all crimes committed in the next 99 installments. I’ll also repeat the preamble I wrote for that first installment: Continue reading »

THE REARVIEW MIRROR (AXAMENTA, RAGNAROK)

THE REARVIEW MIRROR 8 Responses »

Nov 292015

It’s Sunday morning here at the NCS compound, and that must mean it’s time for another installment of The Rearview Mirror, in which we take a rare backward look at the metal of yesteryear. It’s also time for me to feed the loris horde before they start sharpening their knives again. But I think I’ve got enough time to put up these tunes before they launch an assault; they’re very deliberative.

Today I decided to include music from two bands, Axamenta from Belgium and Ragnarok from Norway. It’s quite a contrast.

AXAMENTA

Over a span of roughly 10 years, Axamenta put out a handful of demos and EPs and two albums, the last of which was 2006’s Ever-Arch-I-Tech-Ture — and then split up before releasing anything else. Metal-Archives classifies them as “melodic death/black metal”, but there’s certainly a symphonic component to their sound as well. In fact, there are times on Ever-Arch-I-Tech-Ture when they really go over the top with the keyboards. But the album also includes some powerful, memorable, and at times unconventional melodic death metal, with potent riffs and majestic melodies draped in a shroud of thorns. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ENDLESS RECOVERY, VALROGH, FUCK-USHIMA, ONE TAIL, ONE HEAD, OLD SKIN

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET 6 Responses »

Nov 282015

This is kind of an odd Saturday. Here in the U.S., it’s the middle of a long holiday weekend, two days after Thanksgiving, a day after Black Friday, and two days before what snake oil peddlers have annointed “Cyber Monday”, when people get back to their high-speed internet connections at work and are encouraged to buy shit online that they don’t need, with money they don’t have. Hail Satan!

Anyway, I’m not sure if anyone will be visiting us today, but I’ve stitched together some (mostly) new music anyway, because instead of leaving my house to spend money yesterday I hunkered down and doused myself with a few hours of new metal. Much more satisfying and much less costly.

ENDLESS RECOVERY

I decided to start this round-up with a healthy heaping serving of high energy, beginning with a blast of speed metal from the Greek band Endless Recovery. The band’s new album (their second full-length) is named Revel In Demise, and it’s set for release by Witches Brew on December 24. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ABYSMAL GRIEF (REGEN GRAVES)

Interviews 6 Responses »

Nov 272015

(On this black Friday, we present Comrade Aleks’ interview with Regen Graves of Abysmal Grief.)

Probably someone could have missed the appearance of Abysmal Grief in one of NCS’s latest Seen and Heard themes, so here’s a chance to take a look closely into their crypt.

It’s naturally one of darkest and most ominous bands of Italy; for eleven years they have written hymns in the name of Death and have done it well. Strange Rites of Evil, the fourth full-length album of Abysmal Grief, is heavy as a coffin lid, it’s filled with chilling breeze from the crypt and pervaded with night fog. Need to resurrect the dead? Play it loud.

Meanwhile we had a talk with Regen Graves, one of Abysmal Grief’s undertakers. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GOMORRAH — “SITRA ACHRA”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Nov 272015

Many metal bands have chosen the name Gomorrah, but only one is based in the Okanagan Valley town of Kelowna, British Columbia. Since originally coming together in 2006, the band have altered their style of music, and their new second album reveals the current state of their malicious and malformed development. Entitled The Haruspex, it will be released in January by Canadian label Test Your Metal Records, and today we bring you the premiere of a track from the album named “Sitra Achra“.

The band’s line-up consists of vocalist Jeff Bryan and guitarist Bowen Matheson, and on this new album they’re joined by drummer Casey Long-Read. Bryan and Matheson had this to say about the song you’re about to hear: Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DEGIAL, KRATER, NACHTZEIT, NEKRASOV, FRONT

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 9 Responses »

Nov 272015

I guess it has become a cliche to feature black metal on Black Friday, even though the two have absolutely nothing to do with each other beyond a shared word. But we have no discounts to offer on the subscription to our site, no merch to sell at half off, and I’m overdue posting a Shades of Black feature anyway. So, black metal it shall be (mostly).

I’ve collected in this post streams of three new songs from forthcoming albums and two new EPs, plus my own garbled words.

DEGIAL

Okay, so Sweden’s Degial aren’t exactly a black metal band, but they’re necro to the core. The name of their new, second album is Savage Mutiny and it’s coming out via Sepulchral Voice Records on December 25 (in order to foul the holiday with their blasphemous stench, of course). The title track from the album was delivered unto our greedy ears yesterday, and you shall hear it next. Continue reading »

SECRETS OF THE MOON: “SUN”

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Nov 272015

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Germany’s Secrets of the Moon.)

Change is a funny thing. Particularly in a genre both as Progressive and as Conservative as Metal can be. We so often crave the thrill of the new, whilst clinging to the comfort and security of the familiar. Sometimes simultaneously. And this isn’t just confined to Metal either. It’s something you can see across listeners of all different genres.

I am painting with something of a wide brush there, though, as Metal fans are a diverse lot, when all is said and done. Some of them love to watch bands grow and develop and change. Others prefer them to stay the same (as long as they keep the quality high). Some even prefer bands to practically regress back to what they consider the “Golden Age” of the genre. But I’d conjecture that most of us (at least here at NCS) tend to take things on a band-by-band basis. After all, some bands can get away with hitting that same sweet spot over and over again, when others quickly fall victim to the law of diminishing returns. And, similarly, some bands can change and transform into monsters (in a good way), while others simply grow too big for their boots.

So the important question here is… how do you handle change?… since the issue of whether you’re open, or averse, to change is going to have a big influence on how you receive this album.

Because, make no mistake about it, Sun showcases a wholly different Secrets of the Moon than the one you’re used to. Continue reading »

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