AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: OUR DYING WORLD — “VEIL OF THE REAPER”

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May 162022
 

 

We’ll make you a solemn promise: Whatever condition you happen to be in now (unless you’re in a coma), the song and video we’re about to present will make you feel orders of magnitude more alive, accelerating your heart-rate, igniting your fast-twitch muscles, and spinning your head like a glorious top. And for those of you who want your music to attack like a pack of rabid dogs, it fills that need, too.

The song is “Veil of the Reaper“, and it comes from Hymns Of Blinding Darkness, the forthcoming second album by the Los Angeles band Our Dying World. The new album marks a significant departure from the music on their full-length debut, Expedition, moving in directions that may spawn memories of such bands as Children Of Bodom, Nightwish, and Dimmu Borgir, and you’ll get a vivid understanding of that when you hear “Veil of the Reaper“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TISHINA — “Јутро Последњег Дана”

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May 162022
 

 

Tишина (“Tishina” or “Silence”) is a new melodic doom/death project founded by Serbian musician Branislav Panić, known for his work in the blackened death metal band Bane. Under the banner of Tишина, he has drawn upon the influence of such bands as Saturnus, October Tide, Mourning Beloveth, and Doom:vs, among others, and the results are now captured on a debut album named Увод… (“Uvod…” or “Introduction…”), which was inspired mainly by a book of poems named Nad Vodama Aheronta by the Serbian author Predrag Rava.

Увод… will be co-released on May 30th by Satanath Records, Hypnotic Dirge Records, and The End Of Time Records. As that day fast approaches, we are now presenting a song from the album named “Јутро Последњег Дана” (Jutro Poslednjeg Dana), which is a remarkable amalgam of sensations, both spellbinding and hard-hitting. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CARTILAGE — “THE DEADER THE BETTER”

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May 122022
 

 

After looking at the cover art for the new Cartilage album The Deader The Better, plus imbibing the band photos and the first few singles and videos for the record, I decided to imbibe large quantities of alcohol before writing what you’re about to read. For this album, I figured no one would want to read anything sober about the music, because the music isn’t made for sober people. Or I guess I should say that it’s made for people, sober or not, who want to get drunk on the wild riot that this album provides, even if you choose not to consume intoxicants of your own.

People come to extreme metal for lots of reasons, and there’s so much variety in extreme metal that it’s capable of feeding almost whatever you hunger for, and whatever mood you’re in, or whatever mood you want to get into. If you’re already feeling wild, this is one of those album’s that will push that up to potentially dangerous levels. If you’re a morose asshole, this will make you feel mean and even more disgusted about yourself. If you’re just somewhere in the middle, the mayhem will make you ruin your neck and smile through broken teeth and churning viscera.

The album may not be what your psychotherapist would order, but they’re groping in the dark anyway, and they probably didn’t take any courses in fucked-ed up death/gore, more’s the pity. Maybe we should begin a letter-writing campaign to places that teach counseling and psychology/psychiatry? Yeah no, that’s the demon alcohol talking. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: TWO FACE SINNER — “SERVANTS OF BLIND FAITH”

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May 122022
 

 

Last year marked the 15th anniversary of the Perúvian black/death metal band Two Face Sinner. Across that span of years they released an EP and three albums of satanic blasphemy, and have shared the stage with the likes of Rotting Christ, Nargaroth, God Dethroned, and Belphegor.

Two Face Sinner‘s most recent album, Spiritual Nemesis, was released in 2020 by Non Serviam Records (on CD and digitally). As a reminder of its diabolical allure, last fall we premiered a lyric video for the record’s second track, “Satanic Altar“. One good turn deserves another, and so today we’re presenting another lyric video, this one for “Servants of Blind Faith“ Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LUX INCERTA — “DECAY & AGONY”

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May 112022
 

Last month the Parisian band Lux Incerta, whose name is a Latin expression which describes the moment light succumbs to darkness, released their first album in a decade via the Klonosphere label. Three years in the making, Dark Odyssey carries forward the influences that shaped the group’s genesis, which owed a debt to such bands as Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Cathedral, but brings into play other genre ingredients as well, including prog, death, and post-black metal.

Thematically, the band built the new album around a concept that suggests a personal and exploratory journey into the depths of oneself, “on the border between darkness and light, between joy and sadness, life, and death”, to quote the words of the band. Lux Incerta have further commented: “It’s very special for us, and it takes on a fuller meaning since one of our own bandmates, Michel ‘Shervine’ Hejazy passed away a few weeks before hitting the studio. This album is dedicated to his memory.” And the album includes a couple of solos that Shervine recorded during the pre-production phase.

Dark Odyssey a powerful album, heavy in its emotional impact as well as its sound, and that’s evident from the song that’s the subject of a video we’re premiering today: “Decay & Agony“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VOIMATON — “BILE”

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May 102022
 

With a 2019 demo and a pair of 2020 live EPs under their belts, the U.S. death metal band Voimaton are about to make a big step forward with a debut album named Profane Vestige that’s set for release on June 10th via Personal Records. It presents a selection of both previously released and new tracks that collectively demonstrate the band’s mastery of a particularly gruesome and bone-smashing form of doom-afflicted death metal.

The trio who make up the band — Dave Tibbets (vocals, bass), Pat O’Hara (drums), and Henry Fordney (guitars) — proceed together under a name that’s of Finnish origin and loosely translates to “powerless”, and while feelings of powerlessness and nihilism work their way into the songs’ lyrical themes, the music is anything but weak and defenseless, as you’ll learn from our premiere of the album track “Bile” — which is indeed a bilious piece of music, and a barbaric one.. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: 0N0 — “UNWAVERING RESONANCE”

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May 102022
 

If you’re unfamiliar with the music of the Slovakian trio 0N0 (and shame on you if you’re not!), Metal-Archives will tell you that it’s “Experimental Industrial Doom/Death Metal”, which is a mouthful, and still not completely adequate. As we wrote here when we last had occasion to write about 0N0, “Eerie, chilling, tremendously heavy music” might be a different way of trying to wrestle their sounds into linguistic form, yet still misses some relevant adjectives.

That last visitation we made was through our premiere of the band’s tremendous 2019 split with Owl, and today’s reunion is prompted by their follow-on release, a new album named Unwavering Resonance.

Divided into four massive tracks that collectively just under forty minutes, it’s no easier to classify than 0N0‘s previous creations. It presents a sequence of extravagant, elaborate, mind-blowing, and jaw-dropping journeys so wondrous and frightening that they seem only barely tethered to the planet we call home. We have one of those excursions to share with you today, and it’s the new album’s title track. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HORN — “VERZET”

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May 092022
 

One week from today the German pagan black metal band Horn will release Verzet, its ninth album in a musical career that now spans nearly two decades. As ever, Verzet is the vision and solo work of Niklas, aided by a few talented guest performers.

The album’s name is Dutch for “resistance”, and three of the tracks (“Galgenblech”, “Aufstand”, and “Verzet”) deal with the topic of rebellion, while others concern the importance of perseverance and principles (“A Hill To Die On”) and the concept of agency and the lack thereof (“Protektor”). But the song that Horn chose as the lead “single”, which was accompanied by a beautiful video, was “Alpenrekorder”, and it manifested a reawakening of the classic Horn style, with its roots in folkloric traditions and a reverence for nature. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MOONSHADE — “BLOOD OF THE TITANS”

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May 062022
 

Moonshade are a melodic extreme metal band from Porto, Portugal, who are now more than a decade into a promising career. Their second album, As We Set the Skies Ablaze, is now set for release on July 22nd. With one single from the album (“Epitaph“) already out in the world, today we’re helping spread the word about a second one, which is presented through a lyric video.

This newest single, “Blood of the Titans“, draws upon ancient Greek mythology to confront humankind with a choice, and fashion a message, and it does that through melodic death metal that’s electrifying in its vibrancy and magnificence. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HARVESTED — “HARVESTED”

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May 052022
 

Harvested are an Ottawa-based quartet (with members from Quebec as well as Ontario) who are on the brink of releasing their self-titled debut EP, and it is indeed an explosive debut. Drawing influence from the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Suffocation, Dying Fetus, and Hate Eternal, Harvested blast their way through five ferocious tracks that combine visceral destructive power, megawatt vocal intensity, and the kind of high-speed technically impressive performances that tend to pop eyes wide open.

That melding of speed, savagery, and technical fireworks makes the run through the full torrent of the EP an electrifying (and indeed breathtaking) experience, and it’s an experience we’re providing today through our premiere stream of the EP in its entirety. So, take some deep breaths, and proceed…. Continue reading »

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