AN NCS PREMIERE: BELOW THE SUN — “IN MEMORIES”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  11 Responses »
Apr 122017
 

 

We began following Below the Sun in 2014, with the discovery of a video for a song from their then-forthcoming debut album Envoy, and were then fortunate to premiere the album the next year. Envoy took as its inspiration the journey of the Voyager I spacecraft into interstellar vacuum, farther than anything touched by human hand. As we wrote then, “Envoy is a deeply atmospheric, irresistibly immersive work, a cosmic version of funeral doom that’s icy and vast and immensely powerful in its hypnotic appeal”.

At last, this enigmatic band from Krasnoyarsk in Siberian Russia are returning with a new album that bears the name Alien World. It will be released by Temple of Torturous Records on May 26. And on this 12th day of April — which is The International Day of Human Space Flight — we bring you the premiere of a video for one of the new songs: “In Memories“. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: KINGNOMAD

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  No Responses »
Apr 032017
 

 

(Comrade Aleks brings us this interview of one of the founders of the Swedish band Kingnomad, whose new album Mapping the Inner Void was released by Ripple Music earlier this year.)

 

Take Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, add a cleaner and heavier sound to their vintage doom rock, then enforce it with Sabbathian tritone and Dead Meadow’s psychedelic vibe, and it’s not difficult to imagine how Swedish occultists Kingnomad sound on their new record Mapping the Inner Void.

They don’t reinvent the wheel, but they do their work heartily, masterfully, and with sinister passion. Ripple Music did the good job lending a hand to Kingnomad to help with the release of the album. The time for unholy doom rock in all its crimson glory has come!

This interview with Johnny is the result of science and a spiritualism alliance as he gave me his answers through the virtual séance in truly unimaginable ways. Continue reading »

ROYAL THUNDER: “WICK”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  5 Responses »
Apr 032017
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Royal Thunder.)

This Georgia band have never actually been metaI. They have toured with metal bands, some of their members have been in metal bands, and they certainly came pretty close on Crooked Doors. I really loved Crooked Doors. I wore it out. This means the bar is held pretty high here.

Going into the album there was uncertainty when hit with the slow droning riff that accompanies the more circular chant of the first song. They don’t come out swinging like they did on the previous album. I went back and gave this song another listen after hearing the entire album, and it made a little more sense, but didn’t really grab me. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ERUPTION — “SANITY ASCEND”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  3 Responses »
Mar 312017
 

 

Like many of you, I’m often drawn to explore music based solely on the cover artwork, and that’s exactly what happened in the case of Eruption’s new album, Cloaks of Oblivion. Isn’t that cover art by Alex Boca fantastic? And in this case, the music proved to be a match for the enticing quality of the visual art.

Eruption come our way from Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Cloaks of Oblivion is their third album. It will be released by Xtreem Music on May 2.

The words that leap to mind immediately in thinking about “Sanity Ascend“, which is the song from the new album that we’re premiering, are “explosive” and “electrifying”. Prepare to have the spigot on your adrenal glands cranked wide open. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEVIL — “CEMETERY STILL”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 292017
 

 

We have an exception to the porous rule in our site’s title — sort of. The song we’re bringing you is a piece of moonshine-swilling devil rock by the Norwegian band Devil. “Cemetery Still” comes from the band’s third album, To the Gallows, which will be released by Soulseller Records on April 21.

The production quality of this new album may not be as rough as the band’s first demo, and the influence of classic heavy metal may be eclipsing doom to a greater extent than on the band’s first two albums, but as “Cemetery Still” proves, Devil are still a sure-handed source of highly addictive riffs — and sinful vocals. Continue reading »

HERETOIR: “THE CIRCLE”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  6 Responses »
Mar 242017
 

 

(This is Andy Synn’s review of the new album by Germany’s Heretoir.)

“Post-Black Metal” is a funny old term. Its relatively amorphous nature means that no-one can really fully agree quite what it refers to, or quite what its defining characteristics are as a (sub)genre.

But, to my mind, in order to be considered “Post Black Metal” a band has to have at least some actual Black Metal in their sound (yes, I know that, strictly speaking, “Post” implies after/beyond, but no-one expects a Post-Metal or Post-Rock band to NOT have any Metal/Rock in them, do they?).

It’s not enough to just have a little bit of blackened DNA left over in your system, or just to count certain bands among your influences… if your music doesn’t contain at least some of the sonic markers of Black Metal, then why even bother referring, even obliquely, to it at all?

The reason I’m saying all this is that there are a lot of bands out there, particularly in these Post-Alcest years, who could be considered as Post- “Post Black Metal” at this point, and a full 666 degrees of separation removed from the genre from which they (supposedly) derive their sound.

And while there are those who still think/act like using the words “Black Metal” gives whatever they’re talking about a certain amount of instant credibility, the truth of the matter is that the over-use of terms like “Black Metal” and “Post Black Metal” has not only diluted their meaning in a frankly rather unhelpful manner, but also led to many otherwise worthwhile artists being judged (and found wanting) by a wholly inappropriate set of standards.

So please, don’t think of The Circle as a “Post Black Metal” album. It’s not. But if you judge it on its own merits, by what it is, rather than what you think it should be, I think you’ll find that it really is a great album on its own terms. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WOUNDED GIANT — “VAE VICTIS”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 222017
 

 

After releasing a demo and a debut album named Lightning Medicine in 2013 and a split LP with Goya in 2015, Seattle-based Wounded Giant have a new album headed our way via STB Records on April 1. The album’s name is Vae Victis, and that’s also the name of the song from the album we’re about to hit you with.

And make no mistake, it will hit you — hard. It simulates the experience of being beaten with a length of lumber at the same time as a psychoactive potion penetrates the blood-brain barrier and someone carves a message into your forearm with a razor blade. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ALASTOR — “BLACK MAGIC”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  2 Responses »
Mar 172017
 

 

It’s time once again for us to confuse the hell out of people who are visiting our site for the first time. And apart from the fun of sowing confusion and discord through defiance of our site’s title, we are finding our fun today in Black Magic, the new album by the Swedish doom band Alastor.

But it is a peculiar kind of fun, because the music itself is like a near-apocalyptic hallucination, a mesmerizing one that will stay in your head for a long time after taking the trip — and the trip is yours for the taking, because below you will find a full stream of the EP in advance of its March 18th release by Twin Earth Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: VERMIN LORD — “VISIONS OF A CURSED WARLOCK”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 132017
 

 

This marks the third time I’ve written abut the music of Seattle’s Vermin Lord. The first time was a review of the project’s excellent 2016 album Anguish, and then I praised a new single that was released in January of this year, and now I’m happily premiering a new two-song EP: Visions Of A Cursed Warlock.

The two songs tell a story, which Vermin Lord’s sole creator explains as follows: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DISHARMONY — “THE ABYSS NOIR”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  2 Responses »
Mar 122017
 

 

Here we are again, watering down the absolutist proclamation in our site’s name. Hell is clearly freezing over. Is nothing sacred any more? What has happened?

Yes, we are about to premiere an Exception to our Rule — a well-earned one that can’t be denied. What has happened is that the Greek band Disharmony have overcome your humble editor’s prejudices against clean singing in metal. How have they done this? Allow me to explain. Continue reading »

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