AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SPEGLAS — “TIME, FUTILITY & DEATH”

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Nov 162022
 

What we have for you now is an enormous surprise, and one we hope you’ll find as wonderful as we have. It’s not as extreme as most of what occupies our attention around here (though it does have its moments of barbarity), but we’ve found it a perpetually eye-popping and captivating record.

The subject is Time, Futility & Death, a new EP by the Swedish group Speglas that will be released on November 18th by Pulverised Records. It follows their first release, another EP, by a very long seven years, long enough that maybe even enthusiastic fans of that first recording may have forgotten the band. The new release will prove a vivid reminder of their talents, and should attract a lot of new adherents among adventurous listeners, if only the word will spread. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): OMNIFARIAM — “THE SUMMONING”

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Nov 152022
 

Time flies when you’re having fun. Time also probably flies when you blindly stumble into the path of a rushing freight train.

What brought that morbid thought to mind? Well, you can guess from the title of this feature. It’s the obliterating new EP The Summoning by the Puerto Rican death metal band Omnifaiam, and in particular the EP’s powerhouse opening song “Deceivers of the Bleak“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: VARGSHEIM — “IN THE TOWER OF IVORY”

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Nov 152022
 

Over a career that now spans more than 15 years the German band Vargsheim have made their music a home for wolves, but these wolves have proven to be surprising shape-shifters as well. Black metal runs through their veins, but this trio — the brothers Kaelt and Harvst and drummer Naavl (all of whom are live members of Imperium Dekadenz) — clearly have many other musical interests, and continue finding ways to indulge them under their banner.

That observation proves most true in their forthcoming fifth album In the Tower of Ivory, which will be released on December 9th by the band’s new label Crawling Chaos. We have a thrilling example of what they’ve accomplished in today’s premiere (through a video made by Kaelt) of the new record’s title song. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SMOKE OF ISENGARD — “DWARF HUNTER”

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Nov 142022
 

Almost exactly 67 years have passed since the last installment of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was first published in the UK, and almost exactly 21 years have gone by since the world premiere of the first film in Peter Jackson‘s famed movie trilogy based on those novels. And yet of course interest has not waned (witness the popularity of The Rings of Power after its first season), and likely never will.

The creatures, characters, places, and events that populated Tolkien’s timeless writings have become rich fodder for musical artists across many genres, but they’ve probably flourished more in metal than anywhere else. Not surprisingly, metal more than other genres has also been more attracted to the darkness in Tolkien’s worlds, and we have a prime example in the debut album by the Russian solo project Smoke of Isengard. The title itself — Orc Metal — points the way. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ALL ARE TO RETURN — “A STATE IN FEAR”

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Nov 142022
 

“Perpetual dread unhinges us. Threats real and imagined indistinguishable. The multitude stirs – and it hears the siren call, but not the alarms that sound. Enthralled by the specter of a life brutish and short. The deal with the Leviathan has been remade. We are right to fear – the many and the one.”

That is how the two-man formation All Are To Return introduce their new single “A State In Fear“, which we’re premiering today. Set for digital release on November 28th, it follows the band’s self-titled debut EP in 2020 and their second EP, AATR II, which detonated one year ago.

With those previous releases the band thematically revolted against the multitude of societal prisons, both more and less obvious, that confine and degrade human existence. The new song itself seems to echo a line from the introduction to the first EP, which characterized its grim perception of “life naked to the brutality of a state in fear.” Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: AIRSTRIKE — “POWER IN YOUR HAND”

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Nov 112022
 

The Polish band Airstrike has experienced what one might call a long period of gestation. Formed in 2014, they’ve undergone line-up changes, written and toured (now with almost 30 concerts under their belts), and spent the last two pandemic years heavily focused on finishing their debut album. At last, that album is complete, presenting 11 tracks of high-powered but dynamic thrash and heavy metal.

The name of the album is Power in Your Hand, and today we bring you an official video for the record’s turbocharged title track. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RITUAL DEATH — “VERMIN”

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Nov 112022
 

The Norwegian band Ritual Death hit our radar screen (and shattered it) in the spring of this year when the Russian label Living Temple Records released tape and digital editions of two EPs by them that had originally been released by Terratur Possessions in 2016 and 2018. A little investigation at that time revealed why those EPs were so hair-raising — the band’s line-up shares members with Behexen, Dark Sonority, Mare, and Fides Inversa, among many others.

After hearing those two EPs we expressed a hungry wish for more from this band, and hopefully soon, and the wish has been granted: Ritual Death‘s self-titled debut album is now set for release on December 5th by Shadow Records. One song from the album (“Lunae”) has already been divulged, and today we’re sharing a second one — named “Vermin“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UDÅNDE — “I’M NOT A PESSIMIST, I’M A REALIST”

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Nov 102022
 

It’s become commonplace for metal bands to describe their new songs as “personal”, in the sense that they are inspired by real-world events experienced by band members, usually of the distressing or sad variety. Sometimes it seems that such claims are intended to make the music seem more “authentic” (“seem” being the operative word), and sometimes neither the events nor the music have the innate gravity that the bands hope for.

The forthcoming second album by Udånde, Slow Death – A Celebration of Self-Hatred, is also portrayed as a very personal record, but there’s a raw and uncomfortable honesty in the creator’s description of the events that spawned it which transcends the commonplace, and those events are likely to resonate with a lot of listeners. Moreover, the music itself isn’t commonplace either. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KRVNA — “IN THE ABSENCE OF GODS”

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Nov 102022
 

The Australian black metal band KRVNA made its recording debut in September 2021 with a demo named Long Forgotten Relic. It was released by Seance Records and consisted of two substantial tracks. In its lyrical themes, and through the visions of imagination spawned by the music, it explored the vampire mythos from the ancient world to Biblical times, and the black forests and mountainous castle crypts of Balkan and Carpathian incarnations of the legend.

Closely following on the heels of that very promising advent, Seance Records then released KRVNA’s debut album Sempinfernus. It too delved into vampyric mythology but in an even more expansive and far-reaching way. Moreover, KRVNA’s solo creator Krvna Vatra at that time disclosed more precisely the nature of his interest in the subject matter, and how it represented themes that extended beyond old tales of the undead. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HEIDEN — “ANDZJEL”

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Nov 092022
 

In heavy metal, genre scrambles fail as often as they work. We might go so far as to say that failures exceed successes. Most listeners have pronounced preferences in the kind of music they listen to, and even among those who find a certain degree of mixing attractive, there are limits to their tolerance. Even among “music critics”, there’s a tendency to proclaim that genre-crossing bands are either confused about what they want to be or try too hard to be everything to everyone.

Andzjel, the forthcoming ninth album by the multi-talented Czech band Heiden, is undeniably a genre-scramble of a record. Moreover, the band themselves have a pronounced history of change. If you look at Metal-Archives, you’ll see this genre-jumble: “Black Metal (early); Post-Black Metal/Rock (mid); Post-Rock (later)” — and that doesn’t reflect what has happened on Andzjel, which itself represents another pivot. Continue reading »

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