AN NCS PREMIERE: MALAURIU — “THE LOCUST”

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Aug 052022
 

The Sicilian band Malauriu have been a prolific source of black metal and dark experimental sounds for almost a decade. As detailed in an interview of mainman Schizoid published here at the beginning of 2022, Malauriu have tended to release their music mainly through EPs and splits. In March of this year they departed from the tradition by releasing their second (self-titled) full-length, but they now return to shorter works with a new EP named De Natura Obscuritatis that’s set for release in mid-September by the Italian label Black Mass Prayers.

To help spread the word about this new EP, today we premiere a song from it named “The Locust“. Continue reading »

A REDEFINING DARKNESS ROUND-UP: HERUVIM, ROTBORN, CONCRETE ICON, ORBICATE

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Aug 042022
 

Regular visitors to our site are aware that roughly once a week we compile round-ups of new songs and videos that have seized our attention. The round-up you’re staring at now, however, is different from the usual ones.

In this instance we’re putting the spotlight on four recent or forthcoming releases from a single label — Redefining Darkness Records. And there’s another difference, because in some instances what you’ll be discovering are premiere streams of the music.

HERUVIM: SHADOWHEART EP

The first release we’re spotlighting has goals that go beyond giving you something (very good) to listen too. It’s the debut EP by a death metal band from Odesa, Ukraine, named Heruvim, and all proceeds from digital sales are dedicated to the support of the Ukrainian army in their fight against the Russian aggressors. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TOMB OF FINLAND — “COFFIN BOUND”

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Aug 042022
 

It’s not often that we premiere more than one advance track from an impending album release, much less three of them. But in the case of Tomb of Finland‘s new album Across The Barren Fields we’ve been offered the chance to do three, and have eagerly accepted the opportunity.

In the case of the first two songs we’ve presented, they were first released as stand-alone singles, and that’s true of the song we’re presenting today — “Coffin Bound“. It will be available as a digital single beginning on August 5th. But we’re also now getting much closer to the August 19th release of the album by UPRISING! Records in a variety of physical formats, and thus this latest single serves as a reminder of that. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ETERNALLY SCARRED — “STONE COLD BLOOD”

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Aug 032022
 

For those of you, like us, who haven’t previously encountered the one-man Armenian project Eternally Scarred, we’ve got what we think will be a big and welcome surprise for you today. The surprise comes in the form of two songs from Eternally Scarred‘s new album Echoes From Beneath, one that previously surfaced and one that we’re premiering today.

The songs are surprising in a couple of respects. The first is that the band has branched out from the stylistic markers of its debut album …Of Wisdom, which led Metal-Archives to label the music Melodic Death/Doom Metal. Those labeled ingredients are still a part of Echoes From Beneath, but there’s now even more going on in the songs, and the ways in which they take new forks in the path are thrilling (and kind of head-spinning).

The other surprise, for those of us who are encountering Eternally Scarred for the first time, is just how “muscular” and hard-hitting the songs are, how well-constructed and “catchy” they are, and how frighteningly intense the vocals become. Make no mistake, these are often grim and moody beasts, and capable of harrowing your souls, but they’ll get your pulse pounding too. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DYSGNOSTIC — “BENEATH ABYSSAL PLAINS”

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Aug 032022
 

The Danish band formerly known as Defilementory have made a bug “reset” — and we do mean BIG. A long eight years after the release of their debut album The Dismal Ascension, they’ve recorded a new album with a changed sound, changed their own name to mark the occasion, and will have it released by one of the most exciting metal labels now in operation (Transcending Obscurity Records), adorned by magnificently chilling cover art by Dawid Figielek.

The band’s new name is Dysgnostic, and the title of their first album under that name is Scar Echoes. As for their revised sound, we now have two indications of it. The first, presented through an official video last month, is a track called “Silvery Tongues“, and the second is the song we’re premiering today — “Beneath Abyssal Plains“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): FERUM — “ASUNDER / ERODE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Aug 022022
 

All fans of extreme metal know that Paolo Girardi is a painter who is capable of creating an extensive range of scenes and visions, albeit with a style that’s always immediately recognizable. What he has done for the cover of Ferum‘s debut album is a particularly ghastly and hideous visual nightmare. You can’t look away from it, though you might want to, and it’s hard to forget, try as you might. The question quickly presents itself: What will make your blood run more cold, that image or Ferum‘s music?

You’ll come to your own conclusion today, because we’re presenting a full stream of this debut album in advance of its August 19 release by Avantgarde Music / Unorthodox Emanations. The album’s name is Asunder / Erode. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LIMINAL SHROUD — “ALL VIRTUES ABLAZE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  4 Responses »
Aug 012022
 

 

Living in a dramatic natural setting can be a double-edged sword. Imagine a place bounded by the vast, untamed Pacific Ocean and the Salish Sea, and indeed by water all around, with a mountain range running through it, encompassed by dense, towering forests and sheltered by skies both daunting and glorious. In a state of despondency, such a place might seem like a calculated reminder of how small, insignificant, fleeting, and unattractive your own existence really is. On the other hand, a place like that can so powerfully overwhelm all ugliness as to provide inspiration and hope.

The place we happen to be talking about is Vancouver Island, officially a part of British Columbia in Canada, but really a kind of world all its own. The largest community on that enormous island is Victoria, and Victoria is home to the black metal band Liminal Shroud. It’s no wonder that their natural surroundings have an influence on their music, in ways both dark and blazing — a carefully chosen word, because their forthcoming second album, which you’re about to hear, is named All Virtues Ablaze. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GRAVE GNOSIS — “VULTURES”

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Aug 012022
 

In June of this year we premiered and reviewed a remarkable split release by Florida-based Grave Gnosis and California-based Hvile I Kaos. In part, the split functioned as a teaser for new albums that are in progress from each band, but it was much more than that. It also represented a singular conceptual collaboration, “expressing the nature of parallel spiritual forces, focusing on aspects of the Sun and its Shadow, as seen through the lens of Vedantic Nihilism”.

That term Vedantic Nihilism originated in the writings of Grave Gnosis founding member and Occult author Caine Del Sol, in his book Codex Aversum. It represents a magickal system (briefly described here) that describes a path to “complete immersion in the Void, in purest surrender of our illusion of Self”, as a means of achieving “unity with the beyond”.

With respect to the new split, “Each track represents and invokes a facet of the forces of Moloch as they may be interpreted in both the microcosmic front of the personal psychospiritual, and the macrocosmic sociopolitical and religious egregores. The magickal formulas draw from the alternating modes of invocation and evocation, typified by incitement to fervor and call to action, respectively”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CRUSADIST — “PULVERIZED BY WARHAMMERS”

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Jul 292022
 

Right up there, staring you in the face, is one hell of a piece of cover art. It seizes attention in electrifying fashion, and when combined with the name of the song it accompanies — “Pulverized By Warhammers” — it makes a striking statement. It’s gratifying to see that the photo of the band who made the song — Chicago-based death/thrashers Crusadist — is just as savage and menacing.

But what of the song itself? Does it live up to all these outward trappings? Well hell yes, it truly does, as you’re about to discover for yourselves. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HEADS FOR THE DEAD — “THE BREAKING WHEEL”

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Jul 292022
 

“Super groups” come and go, and more often than not they tend to go quickly, with the members pulling a “one off” stunt and then returning to their main projects. But sometimes the chemistry is so good, and the results so successful, that the groups live on. Such is the case (thankfully) with Heads for the Dead, who arrived on the scene with 2018’s Serpent’s Curse, made further hideous strides with 2020’s Into the Red, and are now running up to the September 2nd release of their third album, The Great Conjuration.

This new one continues the band’s gruesome addictions to supernatural horror in the trappings of chainsaw-powered death metal, and again unites the talents of Wombbath‘s Jonny Pettersson (guitar, bass, keys, FX) and vocalist/lyricist Ralf Hauber from Revel In Flesh, and this time they’re joined by Wombbath drummer Jon Rudin and by Matt Moliti from Sentient Horror, who performs guitar solos.

What we have for you today is the premiere of another song from the new album, to add to those which have already been scourging the ears and terrorizing the minds of the public. This one is called “The Breaking Wheel“. Continue reading »

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