Islander

DEAFHEAVEN: “NEW BERMUDA”

 Album Reviews  10 Responses »
Sep 282015
 

Deafheaven-New Bermuda

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Deafheaven.)

Deafheaven are not the first black metal band to inject elements of post-rock and shoe-gaze into the mix, things that bands like Amesoeurs and Agalloch are praised for. Deafheaven did this without the use of clean singing as well. They became a point of contention with their 2013 album Sunbather. It was praised by the more mainstream press and found the band bringing their brand of so-called black metal to such questionable audiences as Bonnaroo. Accusations of the band being “Hipster Metal” flew on message boards everywhere.

Then there are those who could not put Sunbather on enough top ten lists and listed this new one as one of the most anticipated albums of 2015, before the band stepped into the studio. Can this album live up to the hype? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): SHINING (NOR), PRAETORIA, NAMI, MASTIC SCUM

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 282015
 

Shining-International Blackjazz Society

 

(DGR steps up for round-up duty, and he prepared a really big round-up, so big that your humble editor decided to divide it into two parts. Part One is here.)

In case you missed it, Friday was a kind of slow date for the site. We’ve had times like this before, where various outside influences conspire to make sure that we post with the speed at which animals are able to escape the La Brea Tar Pits. That doesn’t mean we weren’t up here in space, lookin’ down on you and keeping track of various rumblings going throughout the web.

I’ve gathered together eight fairly recent developments in the heavy metal world for you all to enjoy. As usual, I’ve tried to catch stuff that has flown under the radar and mix it in with a few things that have likely made a big splash across the web already. This collection of stories covers a pretty good swath of the globe in terms of distance but has a foot heavily planted in the death metal and doom metal realms, making a few labored grasps to the outside genre world.

SHINING

We turn next to Norway’s blackjazz entourage Shining. The group have been building up to the release of their new disc International Blackjazz Society, and recently the song “Last Day” found its way to the web. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): ENSHINE, CRYPTOPSY, NECROSAVANT, FOREVER OBSCURED

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 282015
 

Enshine-Singularity

 

(DGR steps up for round-up duty, and he prepared a really big round-up, so big that your humble editor decided to divide it into two parts.)

In case you missed it, Friday was a kind of slow date for the site. We’ve had times like this before, where various outside influences conspire to make sure that we post with the speed at which animals are able to escape the La Brea Tar Pits. That doesn’t mean we weren’t up here in space, lookin’ down on you and keeping track of various rumblings going throughout the web.

I’ve gathered together eight fairly recent developments in the heavy metal world for you all to enjoy. As usual, I’ve tried to catch stuff that has flown under the radar and mix it in with a few things that have likely made a big splash across the web already. This collection of stories covers a pretty good swath of the globe in terms of distance but has a foot heavily planted in the death metal and doom metal realms, making a few labored grasps to the outside genre world.

ENSHINE

In case you missed it, we here at NCS have a bit of a soft spot for the melo-doom band Enshine and all their related shenanigans. The group recently allowed us to premiere their song “Adrift”, and that song was an awesome teaser of things to come for the group’s upcoming album Singularity. Recently, Enshine uploaded another song to the web in the form of “Resurgence” and boy, in NCS parlance, is it a doozy. Continue reading »

CHECKING IN AFTER CHECKING OUT

 Mosh Pit  16 Responses »
Sep 272015
 

Space Bong-Deadwood To Worms

 

I’m never quite sure whether anyone notices when things take an unusual turn around here, but since Thursday morning they have.

On Friday we had only one post on the site (Andy Synn’s review of the new Abigail Williams album) and only one yesterday (the premiere of an Invoker song). The Rearview Mirror post from earlier this morning plus this thing you’re now reading are all I can manage for today. And on top of all that, I’ve been unable to do my usual daily searches for new songs worth sharing around in our “Seen and Heard” posts, or even read most of the hundreds of e-mails we’ve received since Thursday.

Whether anyone has noticed or not, I figured I’d give a brief explanation and let you know what’s happening this coming week. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INVOKER — “SECRETS OF SEED”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Sep 262015
 

Invoker-Aeon

 

One month ago we had the pleasure of premiering the title track to Aeon, the new second album by the German band Invoker, which will be released by Non Serviam Records next month. Today we bring you another song from the album: “Secrets of Seed”.

Beginning in the vein of a dark, mid-paced dirge, “Secrets of Seed” soon enough begins to roll like a juggernaut, combining elements of black metal and melodic death metal to deliver a song that’s both electrifying and very memorable. Continue reading »

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: “THE ACCUSER”

 Reviews  27 Responses »
Sep 252015
 

Abigail Williams-The Accuser

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Abigail Williams.)

Oh look! Perennial bandwagon jumpers Abigail Williams are back once again, with another trend-chasing collection of….

Actually. Fuck that.

Seriously. If you’re honestly still thinking like this… then there’s the door… feel free to let it hit you on the way out.

Because, and I say this with all the love in the world… this sort of attitude is complete bullshit and an example of precisely the sort of self-sustaining, media-created narrative mostly adopted by people too lazy to form their own opinions, and disseminated widely by sites and magazines more interested in following the herd and copying what they’ve read elsewhere than putting in any critical effort of their own.

Ironic, isn’t it, when it’s the media themselves blindly following the very trends they’re accusing others of… Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ARKAIK — “AWAKEN THE I”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Sep 242015
 

Arkaik-Lucid Dawn

 

Lucid Dawn is the name of the third album by SoCal’s Arkaik, and it’s scheduled for worldwide release on October 30 by Unique Leader Records. As a sign of what the album holds in store, today we bring you the premiere of the album’s fifth track, “Awaken the I“, via a lyric video.

Lucid Dawn continues a dystopian concept story involving the protagonist Cyrix that began in the band’s last full-length (2012’s Metamorphignition), and it features the contributions of new guitarists Miguel Esparza (ex-Hatriot) and Greg Paulson, as well as guest appearances by Trevor Strnad and Ryan Knight of The Black Dahlia Murder, as well as Bay Area live string quartet, Amaranth. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: D.G. (MISÞYRMING)

 Interviews  8 Responses »
Sep 242015
 

MISÞYRMING-2
Photo by Rakel Erna Skarphéðinsdóttir (web site here).

(We welcome Argentinian journalist Matías Gallardo, who brings us this interview with multi-instrumentalist, composer, and frontperson D.G. of the phenomenal Icelandic band Misþyrming.)

 

As ironic as it might sound, during the last couple of years Iceland has become a hotspot for black metal. To the work of bands like Svartidauði, Carpe Noctem, and Dynfari, we now have to add a new stellar name: Misþyrming.

Formed in Reykjavík back in 2013, the group (Icelandic for ‘abuse’) fronted by multi-instrumentalist D.G. is one of the most glorious revelations of the year within the genre. Capable of mixing the darkness of French anti-heroes like Deathspell Omega and Blut aus Nord with eerie atmospheres and a wicked sense of melody, the quartet’s debut album Söngvar elds go óreiðu (‘Songs of Fire and Chaos’) promises more than a cold chill to your spine. Brace yourselves: Misþyrming is coming. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: MUTILATRED — “DISSECTING YOUR FUTURE”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Sep 242015
 

Mutilatred-Dissecting Your Future

 

Mutilatred chose their name well, concocting a word that won’t be found in the dictionary but accurately conveys the sense of mutilating hatred that radiates from every song on their debut album, Dissecting Your Future. Today we bring you a full stream of the album in advance of its September 25 release by Seeing Red Records.

There’s nothing fancy about this music. It’s stripped-down, down-tuned, primal in its brutality, and remorseless in its delivery, combining an atmosphere of malevolent darkness and physically dismantling grooves, as if Incantation and Devourment had found a ground zero where they could jointly detonate an apocalyptic weapon. Continue reading »

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