AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: AZAAB — “B.L.O.O.D.B.O.R.N”

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Mar 142022
 

 

Following the release of two singles in 2017 and 2019, the Pakistani band Azaab are now on the verge of releasing their debut album, which bears the fitting title Summoning the Cataclysm — which is indeed what the band often do in their shifting amalgam of brutal, technical, melodic, and progressive death metal.

Their compositional and instrumental flair quickly becomes apparent, and so does the bestial hostility of the vocals. It’s a tribute to the talents of principal guitarist Shahab Khan and his Pakistani bandmates Waqar (bass), Afraz (guitar), and Saad (vocals), and to the lights-out performance of Indonesian drummer Adhytia Perkasa (from SiksaKubur).

And to add further reason to give the album a chance, it includes guest guitar solos by Bobby Koelble (ex-Death) and Phil Tougas (First Fragment), and guest vocals by Nick Mkhl (Brutal Sphere) and Aissam El Hassani (Vile Utopia).

Hopefully, what you’ve read so far has peaked your interest, but what will should really grab it is the song we’re premiering today, accompanied by a playthrough video that features the band’s dueling guitarists. It’s the explosive album closer, “B.L.O.O.D.B.O.R.N“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: AFSIND — “TORTUR”

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Mar 142022
 

 

Relentless emotional intensity is a hallmark of the new song and video by the Danish trio Afsind that we’re presenting today, but so is change. The dark power of “Tortur” is ceaseless, but it takes different shapes. It has elements that someone might say are “atmospheric”, but it also packs a visceral punch. Black metal is a clear influence, but it pulls from other stylistic well-springs too.

It’s such a gripping and dynamic song that, all by itself, it marks Afsind as a band to watch closely, and their self-titled debut album as one to put on your wish list. It will be released by Vendetta Records on April 29th. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: HAISSEM — “BLEAK HEAVEN ALOFT”

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Mar 112022
 

 

Embattled Donetsk in the Russian-controlled Donbas region of eastern Ukraine is home to Andrey V. Tollock, the man behind the genre-bending metal band Haissem (which is the inverse spelling of Messiah). It is easy to imagine that life there has been… difficult… over the last eight years, and especially now. But while continuing to devote himself to family and to paying work (he was employed as a miner at the time of what seems to be the most recent interview he gave in 2018), he has managed to be a prolific creator of heavy music.

Beginning with Maze of Perverted Fantasies in 2016, he has released five albums, and a sixth one — A Sleep of Primeval Ignorance — is now set for release by Satanath Records and Exhumed Records on April 14th. We’ve hosted premieres of music from some of Haissem‘s previous albums and today we do it again, as we present a lyric video for “Bleak Heaven Aloft” from the newest full-length. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EPITAPHE — “MELANCHOLIA”

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Mar 112022
 

 

The cover art by Petri Ala-Manus for the forthcoming second album by the French band Epitaphe is stunning. The degree of intricacy in the painting is remarkable and justifies careful study, but the numerous fine details all contribute to the captivating extravagance of its overarching impact.

It portrays a natural setting and yet also seems surreal. The scene could be one we might find today, and yet is also primordial. It’s both intimate and vast. The storm-scarred skies might only be burned by a sunset but also might be the beginning of apocalypse. It’s beautiful, and it’s frightening.

Not coincidentally, these same qualities (and others) come through in the music. Especially when the album (entitled II) is heard straight through, the experience of the music, like the cover art, is stunning. Today we present one significant part of this larger panorama, one song from five tracks on the new album in advance of its April 11 release by Aesthetic Death and Gurgling Gore. The song’s name is “Melancholia“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CRYPTIVORE — “CELESTIAL EXTINCTION”

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Mar 102022
 

 

Those of you who have spent years listening to death metal as it began to take monstrous shape in the first decade of the genre’s spawning and evolution will easily recognize the stylistic tropes that make up the musical arsenal brandished by Cryptivore‘s debut album Celestial Extinction. Drawing influence from early days of Amorphis and Carcass, Rottrevore and Grave, Cryptivore’s sound is a hybrid of death-metal brutality and explosive grindcore fury, all of it swathed in melodies that evoke haunted houses and horrifying crypts.

But this Australian band’s first full-length (which is the solo work of Chris Anning) is one of those releases where the familiarity of the ingredients in no way lessens the thrill of listening to it. You can see all the knives in the drawer, but once they start flashing and slashing in such remarkably dynamic fashion you get caught up in the spectacle. That’s a tribute to Cryptivore‘s own obvious knowledge of and love for the genre ingredients, but it’s also the result of top-shelf instrumental and vocal technique and a real talent for writing songs that feel like non-stop roller-coaster rides.

And so it’s a genuine pleasure to share with you a full stream of Celestial Extinction in advance of its fast-approaching March 15 release by Bitter Loss Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BEYOND MORTAL DREAMS — “HELL OF ETERNAL DEATH”

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Mar 092022
 

 

The Australian death metal band Beyond Mortal Dreams feeds from roots that extend back into the mid-90s, but with a discography whose dark flowering has been marked by fits and long silences. Following a pair of demos in the mid-2000s, they released a debut album (From Hell) in 2008, and then only a couple of short releases marked their path for the next 13+ years. But at last they have risen again with a second full-length named Abomination of the Flames that’s set for release by Lavadome Productions on April 12th.

Although the band hasn’t experienced the extent of line-up upheavals that are commonplace among other bands over such an extended interval, it’s inevitable that the passage of time has influenced the musicians — in their thinking about music, in their interweaving of influences, in their desires for what their music should become.

The result, as the Lavadome press materials describe it, is music that reveals an “eagerness to explore, destroy, and conquer in order to create”, “a grand tour of at times cinematic proportions” that is “bestial and brutal” but also “elaborate and intelligent”, and atmospheric as well as savage.

We predict you’ll remember those descriptions when you hear the song we’re premiering today — “Hell of Eternal Death“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: FADEAD — “L’ESTREMITÀ DEL MONDO”

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Mar 092022
 

 

This coming April Lethal Scissor Records will release the debut EP of an Italian grindcore band who call themselves Fadead and whose experienced line-up includes Y. (Vomit the Soul, ex-Precognitive Holocaust Annotations), V. (Spells of Misery, Bolvangar, Vertebra Atlantis), and R.

The name of the EP is Terra Ferita, and it comes recommended for fans of Nasum, Cripple Bastards, and Napalm Death. To help spread the word about it, today we’re premiering a lyric video (in Italian) for a brutal assault named “L’estremità del mondo“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FALAMH — “BLACKENED WAVES”

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Mar 082022
 


L-R: Dave Strba (guitar, backing vocals), Kyle Tayler (guitars, vocals), Kye Bell (bass)

 

Falamh, from North Bay, Ontario, Canada rose from the ashes of a previous band in 2019, and released their first EP (The Unbound Beyond: I) in 2020. Honing their blend of melodic black/death metal, they’re now readying the release of a second EP, which is due out on March 25th. Its title is Aeons Effigy, and what we have for you today is the premiere of the new EP’s second single, “Blackened Waves“.

As you’ll discover, it’s a moving and memorable song, but it delivers punch as well as pain, ferocity as well as desperation. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BURNED IN EFFIGY — “TREACHERY”

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Mar 072022
 


L-R – Mark “Smedy” Smedbron (Vocals) | Matt Watkins (Bass) | Eddie Dec (Drums) | Steve Bacakos (Guitar) | Mike Hisson (Guitar)
Photo Credit – Emily Fuschen (Dark Trix Photography)

When metal bands contemplate which of their songs would be a good subject for a playthrough video, they face an interesting choice. If they pick a technically demanding piece, the results can be especially impressive — but it’s a lot more challenging to achieve success. As you’re about to see and hear, the Chicago-based melodic death metal band Burned In Effigy didn’t shy away from the challenge.

The song they chose, “Treachery“, is by their own admission the most melodically and harmonically complex track on their recently released debut album Rex Mortem, which introduces the tale of a tyrannical king’s rule and demise. Bassist Matt Watkins tells us: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: 1/2 SOUTHERN NORTH — “HEARTS OF HADES”

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Mar 072022
 


Photo by Elena Vasilaki, Athens

The Greek artist Ifigeneia Derizioti, who goes by the name IDVex in her occult musical project 1/2 Southern North, has a remarkable voice. Like an aural chameleon, it’s capable of changing colors in dramatic, spine-tingling fashion. It is the most compelling feature of 1/2 Southern North‘s debut album Narrations of a Fallen Soul, and not merely because her expressions are such a rarity in metal and metal-adjacent genres. It would stand out in any genre.

But we hasten to add that her artistry extends beyond those wide-ranging vocal talents. It extends to the conceptual and lyrical narrative that she and her collaborators have created for this first full-length, and to her songcraft, which itself ranges widely in style, texture, and mood.

In terms that would be familiar to metal lovers, she draws upon the influences of black metal, doom metal, and avant-garde music (she calls it the “Black Noise of Doom”), but as you’ll discover through the song we’re premiering today, her creations extend beyond the realms of metal. Continue reading »

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