AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SUNTOLD — “THE HILL”

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Feb 222022
 

 

Once again the world finds itself on the precipice of invasion and armed conflict in Europe. One might have thought such days were long gone but now, astonishingly, memories have been revived of how world wars begin. It is thus fitting, even if coincidental, that today we’re premiering the first single by the part-American, part-Belgian black metal band Suntold, which itself delves into those chilling memories.

The name of the song is “The Hill“. In its lyrics it portrays fields drenched in the blood of many men and stinking of rotting flesh. It expresses the prayers of the living combatants that they may yet survive, that they might return to mothers, fathers, and brothers far away. It’s a timeless tale, of course, but the video roots the imagery in those global conflicts to which memories have now returned. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VIANDE — “LES DENTS DU GOUFFRE”

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Feb 222022
 

 

For many centuries writers, painters, and musicians have exercised their imaginations in rendering visions of “the abyss” — of horrific terrors that await the extinction of life in endless chasms from which there is no escape. For some, it lies deep within the earth, opening its giant maw to swallow what now dwells in the sun. For others it is a supernatural dimension, to be revealed when hideous powers have decided the time is right. In some instances it is a frigid void, in others a realm of monstrosities, and in some cases a term for what lies within deranged minds human bent on mayhem and murder.

The French death metal band Viande have their own visions of the abyss, revealed throughout their unnerving yet electrifying debut album L’abime dévore les âmes, which can be roughly translated as “The abyss devours souls”. As you listen, your own imagination may be kindled to envision all of the different formulations described above, none of them welcoming, all of them frightening.

In the song you’re about to hear, “Les Dents Du Gouffre“, the abyss is not an empty vacuum. Things with gnashing teeth are waiting for you in the chasm. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CROWN OF MADNESS — “THE MANIPULATED”

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Feb 212022
 

The origin story of British Columbia’s Crown of Madness is an interesting one, and we will eventually get to that, but we’ll begin by putting the focus where it most belongs today — on the song we’re premiering through a lyric video from this husband-and-wife duo’s debut EP, The Void.

In that song, “The Manipulated“, turbulence and discord reign supreme, from the booming and battering drumwork and jolting bass-lines to the head-bashing chords and the dissonant, maniacally skittering leads. The feverish, violent derangement in the anti-harmonious but technically proficient music is matched by the rabid ferocity of the growled and screamed vocals. But other unnerving sensations flow through the musical maelstrom as well. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GODLESS TRUTH — “THE EYECHAIN”

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Feb 212022
 

 

There are plenty of die-hard tech-death fans out there who seem to slather praise on any band who go fast and demonstrate the level of athleticism and dexterity that’s required to discharge thousands of beats and notes in a short span of minutes. For many other people, listening to that kind of music is an endurance contest, like trudging forward through a gale-force blizzard, head down and just hoping to find shelter as soon as possible. Even for those people, and maybe especially for those people, Godless Truth‘s new album will be a welcome discovery.

We don’t mean to suggest that Godless Truth is a new discovery for everyone. After all, this Czech band have been around since the early ’90s, and their new self-titled album is the fifth full-length in a career that’s approaching the end of a third decade. But 18 years have passed since Godless Truth‘s last album, and it’s been a dozen years since their last EP, so they may indeed be a new discovery for many.

Moreover, this new album is emerging at a time when blizzard bands have saturated the tech-death scene, many of them engaged in an ever-escalating arms race for speed and volume of notes and beats. In that context, Godless Truth‘s music is especially welcome, for reasons that are well-demonstrated in the song we’re premiering today in advance of the album’s March 4 release by Transcending Obscurity Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DEATH ON FIRE — “THE DYING LIGHT”

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Feb 182022
 

 

Following up on their excellent 2021 EP Six Foot Box (for which we happily hosted a premiere), the Indiana-based metal band Death On Fire are today releasing a new two-track vinyl single as a prelude to their forthcoming album Burial Hymns.

Both songs provide a vivid reminder of Death On Fire‘s viscerally potent but intriguing musical amalgams, which often include stylistic traits from death metal, thrash, the blues, hard rock, and more. What we have for you now, presented through a lyric video, is a premiere of the title track from the new release, “The Dying Light“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SILVERN — “LORN”

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Feb 182022
 

 

The second pandemic year 2021 gave birth to a plethora of new metal bands. Was the birth rate higher than in the first plague year? Or the last “normal” year of 2019? Someone with time on their hands might study Metal Archives to get a sense of the answer. Of course not all the 2021 newborns were attractive, but the Ukrainian black metal project Silvern definitely is — the first steps are extremely promising.

Silvern has been at work on a debut album, and on February 22nd it will release the first single, a song named “Lorn” that we’re premiering today. It has intriguing lyrical themes. Silvern explains: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WRETCHED TONGUES — “MORTALITY”

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Feb 172022
 

 

Gaze upon Caelan Stokkermans‘ cover art for the debut album by Wretched Tongues and contemplate the agony of those naked figures in the clutches of their fiendish tormentors. It captures some of the visions spawned by the music, but not all. To do that, the imagery would need to include the discharge of massed machine-guns, the detonation of bunker-busting bombs, the madness of frantic, blood-lusting violence, and the wailing of lost souls.

You’ll understand this when you listen to “Mortality“, the latest single by these U.S. deathcore heavyweights from their album Ulter Praefinitum, and that’s an opportunity we bring you today through our premiere of the song in advance of the March 18 album release by Vicious Instinct Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CHALK HANDS — “LES JOURS PASSENT ET NE ME RESSEMBLENT PAS”

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Feb 162022
 

 

To help introduce their new album Don’t Think About Death the UK band Chalk Hands have put a big spotlight on the album’s first single, a song named “Les Jours Passent Et Ne Me Ressemblent Pas”. Five days ago they revealed the song through a fascinating animated video made by one of the band’s members (Tommy). And today we’re premiering another video for the same song, but this time it’s a film of a live performance.

The song is in French because that’s the native tongue of lyricist, vocalist, and guitarist Antoine. He tells us that he chose to write this one in French because it allowed him to express himself “in a more honest and unaltered fashion”, which was important because the inspiration was such a personal one for him.

The inspiration is signified by the song’s title. He explains: “The title comes from a French idiom which means something like ‘the days go by and aren’t alike’ (somewhat equivalent to the saying ‘tomorrow is another day’) but I’ve twisted a word to say ‘days go by and I don’t recognise myself’”. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: RUTTENSKALLE — “DEAD MAN”

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Feb 162022
 

Sometimes it’s abundantly obvious when a musician has made music primarily for himself, to indulge a personal passion for a particular kind of already well-established music and to test how well he can embrace and extend such venerable and venerated traditions. In such circumstances innovation isn’t the objective. Faithful worship comes first. But when it works, a personal endeavor like that can also reward listeners.

In a nutshell, that’s what Portuguese musician Paulo Soares did on Skin ’em Alive, the debut album of his solo project Ruttenskalle, which was released last October by Gruesome Records. The object of his affection and energies was old-school Swedish death metal in the vein of Dismember, Entombed, Carnage, Grave, and Unleashed.

The depths of his devotion are revealed in the album’s ghastly cover art, in the Swedish name of the band (which means “rotten skull”), in the abundant lyrical references to guts, gore, and macabre deaths, and of course in the sound of the music itself. And yes indeed, for ardent fans of this venerable genre, it brings rewards — one of which is the song “Dead Man” that’s featured in the music video we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ET MORIEMUR — “OSHIMA”

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Feb 152022
 

 

The Czech band Et Moriemur have branded their music “existential doom”. Their label Transcending Obscurity Records uses the phrase “atmospheric doom/black metal”, while Metal-Archives has selected “atmospheric death/doom”. The one thing you can’t call it is “conventional doom”.

Certainly, the subject matter of their records has become increasingly unconventional. Epigrammata, their last album and their best to date, represented an attempt to cope with the dying or death of those they loved, but used lyrics in ancient Greek and also drew upon the Latin mass for the dead, with the album structured to follow the progression of a traditional Requiem.

Now Et Moriemur have ventured again into unusual territory. As its name suggests, their new album Tamashii No Yama (set for release on April 8th) draws inspiration from Japanese history, myth, and culture, and the instrumentation itself includes the shakuhachi as well as cello, harp, violin, and viola. It will also give Epigrammata a serious challenge as the best album these adventurous Czechs have produced to date. Continue reading »

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