AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ILLUMINATION — “WORSHIP DEATH MORE THAN LIFE”

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Mar 012022
 

In a time marked by such a relentless torrent of new metal, adding to a sea of music that now spans many decades, what keeps ardent fans attentive and excited? In some instances it’s the thrill of new releases by bands who helped shape the course of the flood long ago and still survive. But in other instances it’s the excitement that comes from discovering unusual music by new groups, music that builds on tradition but takes the sounds in startling directions.

We have a great example of that latter phenomenon in the EP we’re about to premiere by the Brazilian band Illumination. It’s a tremendously accomplished debut EP that builds upon the band’s 2021 demo Occult Science, and its manifold successes are undoubtedly due to the previous experience of its three members, who have spent time in such bands as Nervochaos, Grave Desecrator, ColdBlood, Poem’s Death, and Aghory, among others.

The EP’s closest genre label might be atmospheric black metal, but as you’ll discover the music is a stylistic hybrid. A combination of the luminous and the lethal, it fits the band’s name, and it fits the name of the EP as well: Worship Death More Than Life. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EPIDEMIK — “NUKE WAR”

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Feb 282022
 

The Costa Rican band Epidemik released their debut EP, Murder By Command, in 2013. The group disbanded a couple of years later, and then revived but experienced a succession of line-up changes. At last a new line-up solidified, and the group began working on their first full-length, which is now ready for an April 4 release through the cooperation of GrimmDistribution (Ukraine) and Sanatorio Records (Costa Rica).

The band self-titytled this first album not only because it signals the resurrection of the group but also because it represents a stylistic shift. The band’s original old-school thrash influences haven’t vanished, but now they’re blended with death metal ferocity and more technical twists and turns. As a preview of what the new album delivers, today we’re premiering a track with a timely title: “Nuke War“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FATHER BEFOULED — “KATABATIC DELIVERANCE”

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Feb 282022
 

At one time or another every human being will become personally acquainted with horror. The horror of disease (mental and physical), the horror of violence, the horror of dying and death, the horror spawned by our own imaginations — one or more or all, they wait for us, as unavoidable as the sunset.

Tremendous amounts of human energy are devoted to keeping them at bay (fruitlessly), but once encountered they’re not easily forgotten. People try to whitewash them away with philosophies and prayer, but those are like thin coats of paint on a picket fence long gone to rot. Other people stare at them with clear eyes, refuse to look away, and even embrace them.

Which brings us to the unholy Georgia-based death metal band Father Befouled and the song we’re premiering from their new album Crowned in Veneficum. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TRACKS FROM A NEW SPLIT BY WORMED AND COPREMESIS

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Feb 252022
 

Today Buried Zine and Stay Free Recordings are releasing a limited-edition split by two bands who’ve made brutality a hallmark of their music, albeit in very different ways: the Spanish band Wormed and the deceased New York band Copremesis.

Buried Zine has explained that they selected these two bands and recordings for this collaboration “to celebrate the diversity and extremity of the brutal death metal scene, in both musical styles and conceptual approaches: Wormed‘s progressive brutality, extreme musical precision and galactic themes contrast to the base perversity of Copremesis’ raw and darkly humoured ultra brutal death metal”.

The split features two previously unreleased live recordings by both bands, pressed into 7-inch vinyl records of varying colors, and to help spread the word about the release we’re presenting premiere streams of one performance from the split by each band. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HUMATOR — “CURSE OF THE PHAROAH”

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Feb 252022
 

 

More than a dozen years have passed since the Italian/German death metal band Humator released their debut album Memories From the Abyss, but with a revamped line-up in place, and armed with a musical arsenal of obliterating and head-spinning proportions, they’re returning with a second album named Curse of the Pharoah that was inspired by Egyptian mythology and classic fantasy. It’s set for a February 28th release by the Italian label Time To Kill Records, but we have a full stream of it for you today.

This long-awaited return truly is an explosive one. With a modern production job that delivers both bunker-busting power and mind-piercing clarity where needed, the album spawns references to such old-school masters as Cannibal Corpse, Monstrosity, Suffocation, Sinister, and Morbid Angel, as well as the likes of Dying Fetus and The Black Dahlia Murder. The music is ruinously brutal and technically impressive, but displays a deft use of dynamism and melody that gives the tracks character and contagiousness. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LIGFAERD — “HIERUSALEM”

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Feb 242022
 

 

Active since 2005 (and even earlier under the name Hrapp), the Danish black metal band Ligfaerd are about to unleash fresh hell on earth through the release of their fourth album in March via the German label Vendetta Records. The name of the album is Salvator Mundi, and today we present its stunning cover art and first advance track, “Hierusalem“.

In this new song the riffing flies like a swarm of razors over a measured beat, and a trilling lead leaps forth like tendrils of aural flame. Heavy and heaving chords also reverberate in tones of oppressive gloom, dragging and clawing at the senses while paving the way for scorching vocal vitriol. When the lead guitar erupts again, there’s a feeling of frantic despair and pain in its sound. But in this dynamic song, there’s still more to come. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WORMQUIZITOR — “MAD CROWD”

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Feb 242022
 

 

On a day many of us will remember with sadness mixed with anger, the Belarusian band Wormquizitor gives us something to remember with pleasure, from an album that’s being released through the cooperation of a Ukrainian label and a Russian one.

The name of that album is Sickness Define: Society. As its name suggests it includes songs whose themes dwell upon the maladies of our modern civilizations — domestic and social violence, drug addiction, depression, herd mentality, obsession, and impunity. It’s the work of former members of Vox Mortuis, Tryzna and Fimbulvinter, who came together in Minsk to found Wormquizitor in 2019.

The music is not neatly defined in genre terms, though black metal and thrash figure in the outcome. As demonstrated by the song we’re premiering today, the name of which (“Mad Crowd“) is also a fitting headline for the day, killer riffs, ferocious vocals, and compelling rhythms also figure in the outcome. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SULPHUR NURSE — “ROOPKUND”

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Feb 232022
 

 

Sulphur Nurse is an international experimental noise/industrial trio consisting of Eeli Helin (Lung Knots, Fawn Limbs), Dan Dolby (Catafalque, Mastiff), and Matt Finney (Clawing, It Only Gets Worse). As you can see, the members have their own separate projects that pursue divergent paths. They brought their own influences and preferences into this project, and the tracks themselves present divergences, but something united these creative forces. What was it?

Listening to their debut album Roopkund (set for release by Tartarus Records on February 25th) suggests this unifying approach in their experimentation: Have nightmares, remember them, and then portray them with the most abrasive, dismal, dread-inspiring, and hallucinatory aesthetics possible. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BEYOND THE STRUCTURE — “WORMS OF CONSUMPTION”

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Feb 232022
 

 

Almost eight years have passed since the Estonian death metal band Beyond the Structure released their debut album Nauseating Truth. In those intervening years the band did their fair share of touring and released a 2018 EP named Machine of Progress, and line-up changes occurred as well. But now the band are returning with a new album named Scrutiny that’s set for release on April 28th by Vicious Instinct Records.

The new album reveals a band who bring notable technical skill to their performances and display adventurousness in their songwriting, and their lyricism is thoughtful and relevant to some of the most distressing aspects of human evolution and the trials of modern life. They’ve explained that, thematically, the album draws upon the works of Jean-Paul Sartre, the Strugatsky brothers, and Viktor Pelevin in ways that “deal with the crisis of existential existence, mass psychosis, and the inevitable catastrophes caused by the actions of a consumption-based society”.

Those themes come through loud and clear in the lyric video we’re premiering today for a body-mangling, head-spinning album track named “Worms of Consumption“ Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DARKNESS EVERYWHERE — “THE SEVENTH CIRCLE”

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Feb 222022
 

 

The Bay Area melodic death metal band Darkness Everywhere bring proven talent to the table, harnessing the skills of vocalist/guitarist/drummer Ben Murray (Light This City, Wilderness Dream), guitarist Cameron Stucky (Crepuscle), and renowned producer/engineer Zack Ohren on bass. What’s more, their debut EP also includes guest vocal performances by Laura Nichol (Light This City), John Henry (Darkest Hour), and Xavier from Upon Stone.

The band’s chosen name provides a clue to their vision, but the EP’s title, The Seventh Circle, is an even more vivid signal. There they point to Dante’s Seventh Layer Of Hell, where acts of violence in life are punished in death through endless torture and agony. Souls are immersed in rivers of boiling blood and fire, imprisoned in gnarled trees where harpies feed, and abandoned on scorching plains.

Darkness Everywhere take us to this hot and unhappy place through the paths of seven tracks, each of which has a fittingly hellish theme, and we’ll lead you through each of them ion our premiere of the EP today in advance of its release on February 25th. Continue reading »

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