AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND AN INTERVIEW): EXITIUM SUI – “THE SINISTER BUSINESS OF SELLING HOPE”

 Album Reviews, Interviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 052020
 

 

(Andy Synn introduces our premiere stream of a new EP by Exitium Sui, the solo project of ex-Deadspace frontman Chris Gebauer, and presents an interview of him as well.)

Exitium Sui may be a relatively new name, but if you’ve been paying attention to this site over the last several months you’ll no doubt have spotted our coverage of the band’s debut EP, Nuclear Sundown, as well as our preview of “Eviscerate My Withered Soul”, the first song from their upcoming album, Ad Personam (which I’ve heard in full, and it’s a suffocatingly dense and doom-laden slab of grim, blackened filth, make no mistake).

Today we’re bringing you an exclusive stream of The Sinister Business of Selling Hope, which finds the band’s sound pivoting away from the more doom-inflected approach of their first EP in favour of something more closely related to the pulsating blackened belligerence of Leviathan or Blut Aus Nord.

That’s not to say that these four tracks are a total departure from what has gone before – in fact, when the full album is released you’ll likely gain a much better appreciation of  …Selling Hope’s role in the band’s overall development – but suffice it to say that those looking for some seriously oppressive, shockingly aggressive, and crushingly claustrophobic Black Metal will do well to check this one out at the earliest opportunity.

So, please, read on for a full stream of the entire EP accompanied by a short but illluminating interview with band mastermind ES. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CARACH ANGREN (SEREGOR)

 Interviews  3 Responses »
Jul 302020
 

 

(On June 26th Season of Mist released Franckensteina Strataemontanus, a new album by the Dutch symphonic horror metal band Carach Angren, and in this new interview DJ Jet caught up with guitarist/vocalist Seregor to discuss the album and many other topics of interest.)

 

Seregor, please give us a little history about Carach Angren, on how this band came about and what you wished to express through it.

Good day, we are a horror metal act from the southern parts of the Netherlands. Founded in 2003, we started off as a side project when we were active in former trash/blackmetal act “Vaultage”. As soon as this band seized to exist Carach Angren became fully operational as a three-headed formation and that machine never stopped roaring, going and growing. Ardek and I always had a distinct taste of how this band should sound, feel and look. Fast, high, blasts, low, complex, full, symphonic, emotional etc. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: RALF SCHEEPERS (PRIMAL FEAR)

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  1 Response »
Jul 232020
 

 

(On July 24th — tomorrow — Nuclear Blast will release Metal Commando, the new 13th album by the German power metal band Primal Fear, and in anticipation of the release DJ Jet interviewed the band’s co-founder and frontman Ralf Scheepers — which we now present.)

 

Hi Ralf this is Jet of No Clean Singing how are you doing today?

-I’m good, thanks how are you? Thanks for having me here.

 

So Ralf you started Primal Fear back in 1997 — what were the early days like for the band?

-Feeling very fresh haha. So the early days were somehow like being very excited about doing something new, and as we came from different bands, like Sinner existed of course and I came from Gamma Ray, so for me it was just an initial start point to somehow continue my career with a new band. That was just amazing for me. So yeah it felt really good to write music again, to write heavy metal again the way we love it, it’s just great. Continue reading »

WAXING LYRICAL: RANNOCH

 Interviews, WAXING LYRICAL  No Responses »
Jul 112020
 

 

(Andy Synn brings us another installment of his interview series on lyrics in metal, and for today’s fascinating commentary we thank Ian Gillings, lyricist/vocalist/guitarist of the British band Rannoch.)

One of our primary motivations here at NCS has always been to use our platform to highlight the underdogs and the underappreciated, the bands who don’t necessarily have the support of the labels, PR, or any of the other mechanisms which help the bigger names get all the coverage they want.

That doesn’t mean we’re totally ignorant of the “the usual suspects” by any means, but there’s a special kind of joy which comes from knowing that you’ve played a small part in introducing a relatively unknown band to a wider audience – especially when their music runs rings around many of their more famous (or infamous) contemporaries.

Such is the case with UK Prog-Death powerhouse Rannoch, as while we’re not the only site to have written about them by any means, we’ve covered all their releases so far (up to and including their phenomenal second album, Reflections Upon Darkness) with such gusto that we’ve definitely helped raise their profile both at home and abroad.

So, to continue throwing our weight behind the band I invited guitarist/vocalist and main songwriter Ian Gillings to tell us a little bit about his past, present, and future as a lyricist.

A word of warning though – much like the band’s latest album, it’s a long and in-depth piece, so get comfortable… it’s time for some deep, dark reflections… Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CRIMSON MOON

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jun 252020
 

 

Today we welcome a new contributor to NCS who goes by the name Jet. She has been a DJ and administrator at Metal Messiah Radio as well as staff interviewer for Sick Drummer Magazine and ViaOmega Magazine. Today she has brought us an interview of multi-instrumentalist Scorpios Androctonus, the founder of the black metal band Crimson Moon which has been located in Germany since 1998. The band’s latest album, Mors Vincit Omnia, was released last year by Debemur Morti Productions. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SEPULCHRAL CURSE

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jun 242020
 

 

(On July 31st Transcending Obscurity Records will release the debut album by the Finnish band Sepulchral Curse, and thus it seemed a good time for Comrade Aleks to get in touch with the band, and this discussion followed.)

NCS’ constant readers may remember the Finnish bands Solothus and Yawning Void. We spoke (here and here) with members of these extreme doom acts some time ago. I wasn’t surprised when I found Turku-based death metal band Sepulchral Curse with three members from Solothus / Yawning Void in its lineup. As both mentioned interviews were equally cool, and the preview of Sepulchral Curse’s debut Only Ashes Remain sounds promising, it was natural to get in contact with them. And this chat with two Ragnarock heralds Jaakko Riihimäki (guitars) and Tommi Ilmanen (drums, vocals) won’t disappoint fans of the good old death metal concept behind it. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HAIL SPIRIT NOIR

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jun 152020
 

 

It took something special for our old pal KevinP to climb out of his cozy Florida confines and return to NCS, and in this case the motivation came from the impending release of a new album by the distinctive Greek band Hail Spirit Noir.

That album, Eden In Reverse, which is set for release by Agonia Records on Friday of this week (June 19th), reveals new directions in the band’s ever-evolving creativity, and Kevin explored them in this congenial interview of Haris (keyboards) and Theoharis (guitars), proceeding with questions on a track-by-track basis. Insights are revealed, wacky references are made, and we’ve included some music streams as well. Our own review of the album will follow soon. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BELL WITCH AND AERIAL RUIN

 Interviews  1 Response »
Jun 112020
 


photo by Lauren Lamp

 

(We present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Erik Moggridge (Aerial Ruin) and Dylan Desmond (Bell Witch), whose bands have collaborated on an album named Stygian Bough Volume 1, which will be released by Profound Lore on June 26th, and we thank Bailey Sattler and Rebecca Laverty for helping to make this discussion happen.)

Bell Witch are well-known to our readers and widely praised among modern doom metal bands as one with unique vision and inspiration, varying from funeral doom to sludge. Started in Seattle, 2010, as a duet of Dylan Desmond (bass, vocals) and Adrian Guerra (drums, vocals), Bell Witch brought forth three full-length works, though the last one, 2017’s fantastic Mirror Reaper (2017) appeared after Adrian’s death and featured the work of Jesse Shreibman (organ, drums, vocals). And as Dylan has continued Bell Witch’s toll as a duet alongside Jesse, there was always another man who took part in all the band’s albums as an honoured guest.

And that man is Erik Moggridge, who performed guitars in the legendary death / thrash crew Epidemic back in late ’80s and in the psycho death experiments of Old Grandad. Who could have predicted that his acoustic project Aerial Ruin would inspire such deep devotion among fans and would take part in a tight collaboration with Bell Witch? What do both projects have in common? What led to their fresh collaboration, Stygian Bough: Volume 1? We’ll find out in this inspiring interview together with Dylan and Erik themselves! Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HEAD OF THE DEMON

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jun 012020
 


Photo by Linn Vilmann

 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks spoke with Konstantin, a key figure within the Swedish band Head of the Demon, whose new album was just released at the end of April by Invictus Productions and The Ajna Offensive.)

Head Of The Demon from Sweden is one of those rare remarkable bands who have established their own individuality. Originally they mixed doom, a bit of black metal, and obscure rock influences with a Middle Eastern atmosphere of occult worship. But their debut Head Of The Demon (2012) and thr sophomore album Sathanas Trismegistos (2016) have their own distinctive features, and a new album with the title Deadly Black Doom leads even further through hallucinogenic fumes of thick toxic incense.

I’ve tried to find out about Head Of The Demon‘s roots with the help of Konstantin (guitars, bass), and this is where it leads us… Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MY SILENT WAKE

 Interviews  No Responses »
May 282020
 

 

(This time Comrade Aleks has brought us an interview with Ian Arkley, a founder of the UK’s My Silent Wake, who have a new acoustic/ambient/experimental album due for release by Opa Loka Records in July 2020.)

My Silent Wake was born from the dust of another UK doom death band Ashen Mortality, one of the first bands of that kind, born in 1993 and disbanded with two full-length albums in its discography in 2005. So My Silent Wake was given birth by Ian Arkley (guitars, vocals and more), Andi Lee (bass, vocals), and Jasen Whyte (drums, vocals). Doom-followers should know mister Arkley well because he’s one of Seventh Angel’s founders, a legend of thrash / doom metal that started in 1987, two years after the founding of their USA colleagues Dream Death.

Having such huge experience of playing doom-oriented music, Ian Arkley is known for his interest in experiments, so My Silent Wake’s eleventh album Damnum Per Saeculorum will offer you some… We’ve spoken with Ian about nature of his experiments and things doomy beyond measure. Continue reading »

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