AN NCS PREMIERE: THE SOMBRE — “A TERRIBLE SILENCE FROM ABOVE”

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Nov 102020
 

 

The Dutch musician Maurice de Jong has become well-known as the man behind such projects as Gnaw Their Tongues, De Magia Veterum, Cloak of Altering, Hagetisse, and Golden Ashes, among many others. Each of these entities has its own identity, but it’s fair to say that despite their stylistic divergences they’re often unpredictable, disturbing, and even frightening, and just as often represent de Jong pushing at musical boundaries, or simply punching his fist right through them. And then there is The Sombre, which surprises in a different and mesmerizing way.

For those of you who are discovering The Sombre today for the first time, it is a vehicle through which de Jong pays homage to such early-’90s pioneers of doom/death as My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Paradise Lost. Compared to many of his other projects, the music is more traditional, yet if you might be expecting a formulaic clone of the sounds that inspired the music, perish the thought. De Jong still finds ways of putting sparks into the sounds, and there is also much to be said about the mastery displayed in the carefully crafted sonic ingredients within the music, and the emotional power of the downcast melodies.

The Sombre‘s first album, Into the Beckoning Wilderness, was released last year via Kapmes Records, and just in time to greet the pall of winter, a second album is coming soon. Entitled Shapeless Misery, it will be released on November 20th by Brucia Records. Several songs from the new album have already been revealed, and today we bring you one more — “A Terrible Silence From Above“, which is the song that opens the album. Continue reading »

ANN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PLASTICBAG FACEMASK — “SHE’S THE COUSIN OF THE CHAINSAW”

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Nov 092020
 

 

By sheer coincidence the two video premieres we’re hosting at NCS today (the other one is here) are devoted to the music of two-person bands. But the music could hardly be more different. In the case of this one, imagine your mind as a pane of glass, and then think of the song as a hammer smashing it into shards.

The song in question is “She’s the Cousin of the Chainsaw“, and it’s off a forthcoming album named Content by PlasticBag FaceMask from Fresno, California. A two-man head-wrecking machine, it consists of Jacob Lee (Keeper, Elder Devil) and Patrick Hogan (Time Bomb, Shrug), who in this project have devoted themselves to creating a schizophrenic hybrid of math metal, grindcore, and death metal. The album will be released on on November 27th via PlasticSkull Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WITHIN NOSTALGIA — “DESIDERATUM”

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Nov 092020
 

 

Void & Decay is the forthcoming second album by the Canadian band Within Nostalgia from North Bay, Ontario. Since the release of the first album, the band has down-sized to become a duo, combining the talents of Alyssa Broere (Rhythm Guitar/ Bass/ Vocals/ Drum Programming) and Kye Bell (Lead Guitar/ Bass/ Drum Programming). In addition to the changed line-up, fans of the band will discover that the music has morphed as well, and as represented on the new album it resists easy classification. The song we’re premiering today (through an official video) proves that, and it also proves what powerfully good songwriters Within Nostalgia have become.

That song, “Desideratum“, closes the album in stirring fashion, and both the song and the video connect as well with the themes of the album as a whole. As the band explain, “Void and Decay portrays the two extremes; the void is the destined path of our society whereas the decay represents the result of the chaos in the world we live in. The lyrics come from a personal expression that encompasses many forms of emotion and observation as well as relating these things to nature. The inspiration comes from self-reflection and the reflection of the world around us, turning negative events and emotions into something relatable.” Continue reading »

NCS PREMIERES FOR USTKARA GHOST’S “CONSUMING THE ABYSS”

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Nov 052020
 

 

What do you think would happen if two such doom maestros as Daniel Neagoe (Clouds, Aeonian Sorrow) and Shaun Macgowan (My Dying Bride) were to join forces in a new musical project? Well, you need not engage in too much speculation, because that is in fact what they have done, and we have the results for you right now.

Under the name Ustkara Ghost they have completed work on a debut album named Consuming The Abyss that’s being released today, and to help spread the word we present a full stream of the album, as well as the debut of a lyric video for its longest and most multi-faceted song. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GOATCRAFT (A TRACK FROM “MEPHISTOPHELIAN EXORDIUM”)

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Nov 042020
 

 

We first began writing about Goatcraft at our site nearly seven years ago, and have continued following the progress of the music ever since. But the story of Goatcraft’s musical evolution began long before that. The project’s sole creator, who goes by the name Lonegoat, was trained as a classical pianist. As a young teenager he was guided into extreme metal by an older friend, taking the first steps on a long journey that eventually led to his creation of the “necroclassical” sounds of Goatcraft.

Along the way, at the age of 20, while living in Tampa, he played with Mike Browning (Morbid Angel, Nocturnus) in a project called After Death. Due to changed circumstances, he decided to join the U.S. Air Force. After his honorable discharge (and a time being stuck in Japan due to bureaucratic snafus), he returned to Tampa and delved deeper into the metal scene. After moving to Texas, where he had spent time in his earlier years, he began working with musicians from the San Antonio bands Plutonian Shore and Emperial Massacre. As he has explained:

“It was here that I realized that my idiosyncratic style had advanced into something entirely different than what most band formats would permit. Mike Browning had advised me to create an all-keyboard project, and this advice is what ultimately birthed the idea of Goatcraft. I came to terms with the fact that in order to reach my vision of piano- and keyboard-driven of music, I would need work by myself to turn that vision into a reality.” Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SHATTERED HOPE — “VESPERS”

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Nov 032020
 

 

In much of the northern hemisphere there is a chill in the air today as the seasons shift into winter, but not solely for that reason. You probably know other reasons for the intensifying chills across our skins that have nothing to do with air temperature, rain, wind, or snow. We live in a frightening and perilous time. The conjunction of the misery and anxiety spawned by what goes on around us and the inexorable sinking into winter makes this day a nearly perfect occasion for the revelation of Shattered Hope‘s new album Vespers.

And it truly is a revelation, one of the most completely immersive and emotionally powerful albums you’re likely to encounter this year. It consists of five extensive tracks that collectively exceed an hour in length. Despite their length, each track is so brilliantly crafted, and embodies so many gripping changes, that getting lost in them is almost inescapable. The entire experience is tragic, as one might expect from this Greek band, who have become so well-known in the halls of atmospheric doom-death and funeral doom, but the album’s monumental visions of devastating moods are magnificent.

And we are thus tremendously fortunate to present a full stream of Vespers today, just days before its November 6 release through the esteemed Solitude Productions. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LIMINAL SHROUD — “LUCIDITY”

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Nov 022020
 

 

Liminal Shroud from Victoria, BC, made quite a striking impression with their 2018 self-titled demo (which we reviewed here), and are now following that with a debut album that drew the support of the wonderful Canadian label Hypnotic Dirge Records. That album, Through the False Narrows, will be released on November 20th.

The band’s home is a beautiful place, but its setting in the midst of surging oceans and fog-shrouded coasts, often blanketed in the fall and winter by grey and sodden skies, also tends to bring out darker moods. Drawing inspiration from that natural setting, Liminal Shroud have crafted black metal that is capable of becoming as turbulent as ocean whirlpools and crashing waves, but is also palpably atmospheric, providing channels for despair and fury, for the darkness of grief and the fires of defiance.

There are only three people in the band — Aidan Crossley (guitars and vocals), Rich Taylor (bass and vocals), and Drew Davidson (drums) — and they all play vital roles in an album that’s produced in a way which gives them each an even share of attention. Even in the record’s shortest songs, their compositions display remarkable dynamism, and on the two longest tracks, one of which we’re premiering today — “Lucidity” — they use the extended time to push the dynamism of the music’s energy, spirit, and mood to even greater heights. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LOTAN — “ACTA NON VERBA”

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Nov 022020
 

 

The biblical sea monster Leviathan was pre-figured by the serpent creature Lotan in the Ugaritic cycle of stories about the Canaanite god Ba’al, and Lotan is also the name chosen by a new Danish black metal band. Lotan may be new to the scene, but its two members are not — both guitarist/bassist Phillip Kaaber and vocalist Martin Rubini are also bandmates in Vanir (and they are joined in Lotan by session members from Ethereal Kingdoms, Fall Of Pantheon, and Abscission).

Lotan draw their inspiration from both satanic spiritualism and existential philosophy, with a credo framed as follows:  “The concept that we as individuals have a true form, a true purpose, or a true meaning dictated by deities or any truth Sayers being divine or political is ridiculous. To become the dragon, we must first break all chains of gods and men and revolt against the cosmic order. To be free one must truly live, and to do that, no god or man can be the subject of our destiny other than ourselves. Kill your masters – kill your god.”

Musically, Lotan have drawn upon traditions of Scandinavian melodic black metal that bring to mind such bands as Marduk, Taake, and Satyricon, but Rotting Christ will likely come to mind as well. The first sign of their creativity is a single named “Acta Non Verba” that will be released tomorrow — November 3rd — by the new label Uprising! Records. It is that song that we now present to you today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UTHULLUN — “SILENCE”

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Nov 022020
 

 

On Friday the 13th of November the Dutch label Wolves of Hades Records will release the debut album of the mysterious Chicago-based entity known as Uthullun, which follows a debut EP (Sunless) released last year. Entitled Dirges for the Void, the new full-length draws its inspirations from the overwhelming of our terrestrial realm in havoc and bewilderment, and the music itself is bewildering, seemingly chaotic, and unexpectedly bewitching.

Uthullun do not traffic in straight-forward or simplistic compositions, nor do they seek to provide calm or assurance. To the contrary, the elaborate and puzzling intricacy of the songs, and the persistence of dissonance and discord, create disturbing experiences. They repeatedly throw the listener off-balance, but for a number of reasons the journey isn’t repellant, but instead unexpectedly seductive. Uthullun continually boggle the mind, but put strange spells on it at the same time. Witness the song we’re premiering today — “Silence“. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ATOMIC WITCH — “DEATH, SEX, AND SATAN”

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Oct 302020
 

 

When we last checked in with Atomic Witch at our putrid site, about 14 months ago, the occasion was a premiere of the title track from their first EP, Void Curse. It caused us to conclude that the long-time disciples of the Cleveland metal and hardcore scene who formed Atomic Witch picked a damned good band name. As we wrote then, that EP “couples the wild radioactive energy of a runaway nuclear meltdown with the weird and witchy feeling of a supernatural orgy”. Together, those four tracks were supercharged with furious, pulse-pounding energy, head-spinning instrumental changes, and unhinged vocal intensity. The genre-bending music created a maniacal atmosphere, whole-heartedly indulging in a musical blood-spraying riot from beginning to end.

Now, 14 months later, the band’s label Seeing Red Records is on the verge of releasing a new Atomic Witch EP, entitled Death, Sex, and Satan. They picked Halloween as the release date (tomorrow!), for reasons that will become obvious when you find out what they’ve done — and yes, you can find out right away, because we’re premiering a full stream of the whole thing. Continue reading »

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