DEATH RITUALS: NEW MUSIC FROM DYSCARNATE, ARCHSPIRE, ORACULUM, ANTIVERSUM, CASKET ROBBERY, BLACK BLOOD INVOCATION, SACROSCUM, MORBITORY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jul 282017
 

 

Although I put together a round-up of news and new music yesterday, I still had a lot of new stuff I wanted to spread around today. As I began picking through a very long list of newly revealed tracks, it dawned on me that a big chunk of what I found attractive fell within the realms of death metal. And that’s what I’ve got for you below — new (or newly discovered) deathly music from 8 bands.

DYSCARNATE

Five years after their superb last album and with a new bassist/vocalist (Al Llewellyn) now in the three-person line-up, Dyscarnate are returning with their third full-length, With All Their Might. Yesterday DECIBEL premiered a new song and video from the album, and it’s  fittingly named “Iron Strengthens Iron“. Continue reading »

A NEW DARK DESCENT SAMPLER ARRIVES, WITH BRAND NEW SONGS BY 11 BANDS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jul 282017
 

 

Colorado-based Dark Descent Records must be very, very happy with 2017. (I’m talking about their slate of music releases, of course, because many other things about the year suck harder than a shop vac.) Here we are just past the halfway point, and Dark Descent has already served up new albums by the likes of Heresiarch, Undergang, Father Befouled, Bestia Arcana, Ascended Dead, Phrenelith, Ensnared, Gorephilia, Craven Idol, Lantern, Excommunion, Sarcasm, and Diabolical Messiah, and a new EP by Devouring Star (and I might have overlooked something).

But with more than five months left in the year, the label has a lot more nastiness up its sleeve, and today we’re getting a big taste of what’s to come. Today Dark Descent has released via Bandcamp and YouTube a new sampler that consists of a whopping 11 track premieres all at once, and they all happen to be from releases we’ve been very eager to hear, or that come as very intriguing surprises. Many appear headed our way before year-end; some may not arrive until 2018.

Below you’ll find some info about those 11 offerings, plus impressions of the music (aided by a bit of a sneak peak we got in advance), and of course streams of each song. To begin, here’s the track list: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, BARDO METHODOLOGY, CONVERGE, HORRIFIED, MUERT, KARNAR, INTRCPTR, CURSED MOON

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Jul 272017
 

 

Because this is our first round-up of news and new music this week I’m including some items that you may have already noticed elsewhere. But to increase the chances of surprising you with a new discovery, I’ve also included a few excellent new songs from more obscure names. I’ve also chosen them from among a very big list of new releases with the aim of providing diversity of sound. Before we get to the music, I have a couple of news items to share.

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER

Two days ago The Black Dahlia Murder posted that photo at the top of this post on their Facebook page, with no comment. It shows the hand of the esteemed Kristian Wåhlin, aka Necrolord, nearing completion of a very eye-catching piece of red artwork.

Putting two and two together, we can deduce that this will become the cover art for a new album by The Black Dahlia Murder, the existence of which was disclosed in June. In addition, more recent disclosures indicate that the album will be called Nightbringers and will be released on October 6. Continue reading »

MORE BANDS ANNOUNCED FOR MARYLAND DEATHFEST 2018

 Metal News  10 Responses »
Jul 242017
 

 

The 16th edition of Maryland Deathfest will take place in Baltimore on May 24-27, 2018. In June, MDFannounced the first round of confirmed bands for the festival. A few hours ago the organizers announced a further list of 19 bands to join that first group of 25:

Cognizant
Cripple Bastards (Italy)
Defeated Sanity (Germany)
Dusk
Gateway to Hell
Gonkulator
Helmet Continue reading »

CAUGHT IN THE DOOM CRUSH: MORBID EVILS, OWL COVEN, JUDD MADDEN, DWOOM, LIVID, KING ZOG

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 222017
 

 

I started working on this post a month ago, but kept shoving it off to the side due to more urgent commitments. As time passed, I found a few more tracks to include. But still, I haven’t had time to write what I intended to write about each of the releases included here, and I’m not sure when that time would come. So I’ve decided to let the music mainly speak for itself, and I’ve picked out only one song from each release for this playlist, though in most cases you’ll be able to hear the full release if you’re interested.

All of the releases in this compilation are crushers — doom crushers, to be precise. But they’re not all cut from the same cloth. Some are apocalyptic, some are narcotic, some have harsh vocals, some have clean singing, and one has no singing at all. So get ready to travel in the low and slow lane, and if you have an eggshell skull it might be better to strap on a protective helmet.

MORBID EVILS

The first track I’ve chosen comes from the second album by Morbid Evils, a Finnish band that includes vocalist Keijo Niinimaa of Rotten Sound. Entitled Deceases, it examines the subject of death from various perspectives, blending elements of sludge, doom, drone, and black metal. The album will be released on August 25 by Svart Records. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DYSCARNATE, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, HELL, ACEPHALIX, CRIPPER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 202017
 

 

As forecast in yesterday’s SEEN AND HEARD post, I’ve accumulated enough new things of interest since the end of last week to justify posting a round-up today and tomorrow as well as yesterday. Because of the delays occasioned by goofing off last weekend, some of the items I’ve gathered together aren’t as “hot off the presses” as I’d prefer, but they still may be new discoveries for some of you, especially as I dig a bit deeper into the underground for Friday’s post.

DYSCARNATE

Dyscarnate was the subject of a SYNN REPORT back in 2016 in which my colleague Andy reviewed their discography as it then existed, culminating in 2012’s And So It Came To Pass. But nothing has come to pass from these death metal titans since that stunning record, until word began to spread last spring that the band were in the studio recording a new full-length (and that news landed them on a list of Andy’s most anticipated releases for this year). Now, more details have surfaced about this new Dyscarnate effort. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KERES, NAGAARUM, HADES ARCHER, LONGHOUSE, DEJADEATH

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jul 192017
 

 

I had a great weekend, thanks for asking. I devoted it to visits by out-of-town family and a two-day picnic, and NCS took a distant back seat, which is why there was no weekend round-up and no SHADES OF BLACK column. We avoided going dark only though the valiant efforts of Andy Synn and DGR.

Predictably, I now have a big list of new songs and videos to share around, too many for one post. We’ll start with offerings from five bands, and I’ll have at least one and probably two more round-ups this week. Might get one more done today, but maybe not. A meteor strike could decimate my home, the chime on a dryer could alert me that it’s time to get the clothes out, I might feel like chasing a passing car, the lorises might commence war games again. The crystal ball is cloudy.

KERES

The new Keres EP (released July 12th) is an exception to the (admittedly porous) rule in our site’s title, but it’s a slam-dunk exception: Justin Helvete’s voice is a truly remarkable instrument. And everything else about these three songs is also remarkable. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: POISON BLOOD, JUSTINHATE, MOLOCH LETALIS, DEATH’S COLD WIND, INCINERATOR, CRAFTEON, MADROST, BLK OPS, CAVE BASTARD

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jul 142017
 

 

Well, that didn’t last long. Two days ago, when I posted the last SEEN AND HEARD round-up, I announced a plan to post other shorter-than-usual compilations of new music both yesterday and today. Having failed to post one yesterday, that means I’m now back to serving up a more typical groaning smorgasbord of new stuff, enough to challenge the most gluttonous of listeners. Et voila, music from nine bands!

POISON BLOOD

Poison Blood is a collaborative effort by Jenks Miller (Horseback) and vocalist Neill Jameson (Krieg), the latter of whom is a valued contributor to NCS. We’re told that these two came together as fans of each other’s work and a mutual appreciation for Beherit’s classic Drawing Down the Moon LP and the experimental deathrock of cult UK act Rudimentary Peni“.

I confess that I haven’t yet listened to all of their self-titled debut EP — which will be released on August 11 by Relapse — but I’m really enjoying the two tracks that have surfaced so far in the run-up to the release date. The first of those is “The Scourge and the Gestalt” and the second is “Deformed Lights“. Continue reading »

ALIEN WEAPONRY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jul 132017
 

 

(Our friend and long-time NCS supporter Booker from New Zealand prepared this guest post about an unusual new band from NZ named Alien Weaponry.)

New Zealand is a strange place; trust me, I live here. It refers to itself as “God’s own” country, and sees itself as an idyllic little egalitarian (supposedly) land at the edge of the earth, filled with natural beauty, and sparsely populated with easy-going sports-loving people. And yet, behind this idyllic facade it hides a dark past – and hides it well. But as readers of this site know, the hidden, darker side of human nature just happens to be something of a favourite theme for metal. All too often society seems to act like the evil queen in Snow White, only wanting the mirror it holds up to shower it with platitudes and reflect the good. But metal holds up the mirror which flatters not.

Not surprisingly, then, eventually a New Zealand metal band would come along which would dare speak openly of the country’s past. But what would be a surprise, is that it would take a band whose members are still in high school to do it – and in what seems to be a world first, do it with lyrics in Te Reo, the language of the indigenous Māori people. Welcome to Alien Weaponry. Continue reading »

FROM THE HELLMOUTH AND MUTILATRED ANNOUNCE A NEW SPLIT

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Jul 132017
 

 

The Ohio bands From the Hellmouth (Cleveland) and Mutilatred (Toledo) are two slaughtering death metal groups whose music we’ve praised before at our putrid site. In 2015 we reviewed and premiered a full stream of From the Hellmouth’s self-titled debut EP, and that same year we reviewed and premiered Mutilatred’s debut album, Dissecting Your Future. And now both bands have re-surfaced with a new split release that will be detonated on limited-edition tape (and digitally through Bandcamp) by Redefining Darkness Records and Seeing Red Records on August 4.

To help spread the word, we’re hosting the premiere of a video teaser. And although it’s only one minute long, it’s a very delectable taste of the obliterating monstrosities that both bands dish out. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries