AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SACRILEGIOUS CROWN — “PLENILUNIUM CULT”

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Mar 022021
 

 

Raw black metal is a tiny and obscure niche within the greater world of extreme metal, but one with fervently devoted adherents among both performers and listeners. But as small as the niche is, the music within it isn’t all the same thing, any more than it is in other micro and macro metal realms. Some creators, for example, create abrasive and unpleasant assaults on the eardrums, relishing the antagonisms unleashed by such mutilating lo-fi attacks. Others follow different paths, and one of those is the intensely atmospheric one followed by the Italian one-man band Sacrilegious Crown.

Active since 2015, with three demos and two full-lengths in the catalogue, Sacrilegious Crown is about to release a new EP named Plenilunium Cult via Xenoglossy Productions, and we have a full stream of its remarkably chilling sensations for you today in advance of that March 5th release. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UNFLESH — “HOLOCAUST OF STARS”

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Mar 012021
 

 

Two years after releasing their debut album Savior, the New Hampshire extremists Unflesh are returning with a new album and a revised line-up. Entitled Inhumation, the new album, which is set for release on April 2nd, is the work of founding vocalist/guitarist Ryan Beevers (ex-Solium Fatalis) along with two new members: bassist Orion Hubbard (ex-Excrecor) and drummer Jeff Saltzman (Aversed, Allegaeon (live), Continuum (live), ex-Solium Fatalis).

In ways that match the album’s conceptual inspirations (more on that later), the music also reflects a more immersive and indeed atmospheric take on the band’s brand of death metal, which draws into play ingredients of black metal as well as eye-popping technicality.

To help introduce the album, what we have for you today is the premiere of one of the album’s most exhilarating tracks, “Holocaust of Stars“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ISCHEMIC — “SCABS”

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Mar 012021
 

 

Gourmets of death metal who prefer to consume their musical flesh only after it has become rotten and infested with maggots will smack their lips and drool over the Ischemic song we’re premiering today. And for those who prefer to dine while surrounded by preternatural terrors, the experience will be even more galvanizing.

The song in question is “Scabs“, which suits these unhealed and unhealthy sounds, particularly because you’ll want to go back and continuing picking at them repeatedly. And the odds are that after you’ve heard it you’ll want to further investigate Ischemic’s self-titled new album from which this is the first advance track, which is set for release on April 2nd. Continue reading »

AN NCS DOUBLE PREMIERE: WITCHTRIP — “PSYCHO KID” AND “REPTILE LORDS”

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Feb 262021
 

 

It’s time for a return visit by a hard-to-define metal band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, whom we’ve been writing about since 2018 when they released their first EP, Cosmic Cauldron. They followed that release with a second EP, A Burnt Offering, in 2020. Metal-Archives now classifies them as “Split-up”, but the accuracy of that is questionable, given that they’ve completed a third EP named Sledmetal which is set for release on March 9th.

This new EP is a five-track offering, and we accepted an invitation to premiere one of them. Problem was, the band left it up to us to pick the track. That turned out to be a maddeningly difficult choice because all the tracks are so damned good. So the band took pity on us and said, what about two tracks? We jumped at that chance (though it was still a tough call), and so now we’re presenting streams of two songs from Sledmetal — “Psycho Kid” and “Reptile Lords“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): WŸNTËR ÄRVŃ — “ABYSSES”

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Feb 252021
 

 

Loud, raucous, and ravishing sounds tend to be our daily fare around here. And perhaps because of that, the striking contrast created by Wÿntër Àrvń‘s new album Abysses is all the more stunning. Rather than ignite raging bonfires it instead places glowing embers beneath the imagination, and alters moods in a way that is, in a word, magical.

Abysses is almost entirely instrumental and the instruments are entirely acoustic, though their tones are varied and the combination of them is always captivating. The bounty of the music is enhanced by the joinder of a new member in this former solo project, and by guest appearances. And it’s our great pleasure to present a full stream of the record today, in advance of its release by the distinctive Antiq Records label on March 1st. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SHADOWSPAWN — “UNDER THE BLOOD RED MOON”

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Feb 252021
 

 

To bring your week to a fiendishly delicious end, we are fiendishly excited to deliver a very cool video for a very cool song off the forthcoming second album by the Danish death metal band Shadowspawn. The album’s name is Biology of Disbelief, and it will be released by Emanzipation Productions on April 16th.

This new song, “Under The Blood Red Moon“, radiates evil from every pore, and the video does as well, while presenting an interesting juxtaposition of imagery in the rendering of the band members’ performances. There are so many things to like about the song, but one of them that jumps out is Bue Torin Jensen‘s voice. It’s such a voracious snarl, a kind of devouring vortex of savagery — but you can make out every word, and there’s a great temptation to growl and howl right along with him, especially when he extends the word “MOOOOOON“, raising his voice to a blood-curdling scream. (Well, at least you can roar along with him in your head, because few of us can actually make sounds like this with our own larynxes). Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ANIME TORMENT — “VOID TERROR”

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Feb 242021
 

 

Whatever you might guess about the sounds of a band who chose a name like Anime Torment, we can assure you that their brand of death metal is ruthlessly devoted to brutalizing savagery. The horrifying cover art created by Erskine Designs for this Czech band’s new EP Void Terror might be a better tip-off to the crazed slaughtering and bone-smashing cruelty the EP inflicts upon listeners.

That EP is set for release on February 25th by Slovak Metal Army, but you’ll have a chance today to run yourselves through its gauntlet via our early stream of all six songs. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: OPIUM WARLORDS — “EARLY IN THE MORNING THE BODY OF THE GIRL WAS FOUND”

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Feb 242021
 

 

For those of you unfamiliar with baseball, a curveball is a pitch that causes the batter to expect it will cross the plate in one place, but instead it dives, or veers, or does both. When thrown well, it’s a nasty thing because it confounds and discombobulates the hitter and may make them feel foolish for swinging and missing so badly.

I actually enjoy throwing musical curveballs at our visitors even though I don’t do it often. Usually people come here expecting harsh, extreme, and perhaps very unsettling sensations, but the music may veer away. Which is what is about to happen.

It’s fitting that today’s veering pitch comes from Opium Warlords, because the man behind the project has himself been a living musical curveball for more than 30 years. Perhaps best known as Albert Witchfinder for his work with Reverend Bizarre, Sami Albert Hynninen has been involved in many diverse projects, and even just focusing on this one, you never know where a new release by Opium Warlords is going to go until you experience it. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CANNIBAL ACCIDENT — “NEKROKLUSTER”

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Feb 232021
 

 

Let’s cut to the chase: While the Finnish band Cannibal Accident look like a group of blood-soaked killers who’ve lost their minds, their new album Nekrokluster is one of the best old-school death-grind releases you’re likely to encounter this year. There are many reasons for that, but one of them which might not be expected from outward appearances is that these maniacs turn out to be really good songwriters, and top-shelf in their execution (pun intended).

To be clear, the album is blood-soaked and lethal, and well-calculated to leave its listeners gutted and bone-fractured. But there’s more going on here than obliteration of body and mind — as you’ll discover through our premiere of a full stream in advance of its February 26 release by Time To Kill Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BECERUS — “PRIMEVAL IGNORANTIA”

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Feb 222021
 

 

Rising from Palermo, Sicily, Becerus is a new band who openly declare their love for ’90s death metal, and the first demonstration of their devotion is a debut album named Homo Homini Brutus, whose title alone provides significant clues to what Becerus have done with their music. That savage cover art up there, created by Karl Dahmer, provides another significant clue. But an even more tangible clue comes in the form of the album track we’re premiering today.

Before we get to that, you should know that none other than Everlasting Spew Records, who know a thing or two about slaughtering death metal, will be releasing the album on April 30th. The song that has been chosen for the first premiere is “Primeval Ignorantia” — and that’s another title that’s in keeping with part (but only part) of this band’s overall aesthetic (though “aesthetic” is probably too fancy a word for what they do). Continue reading »

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