AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): WATASHI DAKE — “FERAL”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Oct 192020
 

 

The pandemic brings physical and emotional misery on a vast scale, but as someone once said, life finds a way — including musical life. Creative people continue to create, perhaps as much to treat their own pandemic wounds as to offer a balm to others. And so, for example, 2020 has given birth to a fascinating musical project named Watashi Dake. Who knows, maybe in a more normal year it wouldn’t have happened.

The phrase is Japanese and means “Only Me” or “Just Myself”. But the musical project that took this name is the work of a Romanian artist, R.S., who dwells in Transylvaia rather than Japan. The phrase connects to the lyrical themes and inspirations of the music on the band’s first demo Feral, which speaks of failure, freedom, and struggle. “Feral,” we are told, ” is first and foremost a call to rebellion against the chains that imprison our true nature”. It’s thus not surprising that in addition to two original songs, the demo also includes a cover of Dead Kennedys‘ “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”.

Feral was composed and recorded in the summer of 2020, and it will be released on October 25th by Inferna Profundus Records. Today we’re presenting a full stream of its three tracks. Continue reading »

AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ÅSKOG — “VARG”

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Oct 162020
 

 

The Swedish duo known as Murdryck began musical life in 1999 as a “Blackened Dark Ambient” project, disappeared for a time, and then rejuvenated themselves as a Black Metal band in 2014. Thereafter, they released two excellent albums, 2016’s Antologi MMXV (reviewed here at NCS) and 2019’s Födelsen. And then, to the sorrow of Murdryck’s fans, they disbanded. But it turns out that the two men behind Murdryck weren’t finished after all.

That duo — bassist/vocalist Lars Hansson and guitarist Adam Chapman — came back together early this past summer, inspired to renew their cooperation in pursuit of fresh ideas. Adopting the name Åskog, they ensconced themselves in a decrepit forest house owned by Lars deep in the woods of Värmland and wrote four songs between July and August. As they explain, the themes of the music were spawned by the band’s presence in that old forest house, with its own morbid history and its wilderness setting, during a time when the Covid-19 pandemic turned the world into chaos: “You only have to watch nature documentaries to realize the natural world is truly a horrific place. The great outdoors is romanticized, but the reality is it is brutal with no room for concession or concern.”

But what kind of music was born of this reunion, and Åskog’s focus on the cold and harsh brutality of nature? You are about to find out, because today we’re streaming Varg, Åskog‘s first demo, on the eve of its October 17 release. In its digital edition, it includes two of the four songs written this past summer, and a cassette tape edition will include a third one as a bonus. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PESTE UMBRARUM — “WHERE VILE TEMPESTS CONVOKE (I AM BORNE)”

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Oct 152020
 

 

Barely more than two years ago I was floored by Night Shines Eternal, the debut demo by Peste Umbrarum, a Portland, Oregon black metal band that includes members of Panzergod, Death Fetishist, and Deathsaw, and former members of Daemoniis ad Noctum, Cult of Unholy Shadows, and Hiding. I wrote then, at the end of a lengthy review: “This demo really is a stunner, powerfully expressing a range of moods from debilitating depressiveness to incendiary euphoria. If I had to sum up it up in a single word, it would be this one: Magnificent”.

It was thus with genuine excitement that I learned Peste Umbrarum would be releasing their first full-length. Entitled Night Canticles of the Ancient Ana’themae, it shows every sign of being not just as magnificent as that first demo, but even more spectacular. It’s projected for release in time for Samhain by Astral Nightmare Productions, and it’s our great pleasure today to present the first advance track, an exhilarating experience named “Where Vile Tempests Convoke (I Am Borne)“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VYRION — “MONUMENTS”

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Oct 152020
 

 

Somehow our putrid site has come this far without ever turning our gaze in the direction of Vyrion. Doing so now creates a feeling of dismay at how much we have missed, because this quartet from Brisbane, Australia have already released two albums that are real gems. It’s hard to say they are underrated, because both Vyrion (2011) and Geo (2014) both received glowing reviews from respected writers, but it’s nonetheless true that neither of them seems to have commanded the level of attention they deserve.

Six years on from Geo, Vyrion are returning with a new full-length named Nil that will beindependently released on October 26th, and we can only hope that it will open eyes like ours, which for too long haven’t focused on Vyrion’s talents. Today our aim is to aid that process of discovery by premiering a song from the new album, a track named “Monuments“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KING OV WYRMS — “THORNE BEARER”

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Oct 142020
 

 

King Ov Wyrms is the solo project of Tuscon musician Michael Sanchez, a vehicle that he developed apart from his main band (Pain Patterns) beginning in 2015 as a way of delving more deeply into more extreme forms of sonic aggression, drawing influence from classic death and black metal acts of the late ’80s and early ’90s, including such venerated names as Morbid Angel, Bloodbath, Enthroned, Vader, and Dark Funeral. As he has explained about King Ov Wyrms‘ forthcoming debut album:

“Lord Ov Thornes is an album that to me attempts to bridge a gap between the earliest forms of death and black to a more modern approach of metal production, almost like taking Morbid Angel’s Formulas Fatal To The Flesh and mashing it with Sulphur Aeons’ Gateway To The Antisphere. These brutal compositions that have been in the works for several years are finally ready to surface from their grim depths and inspire a new wave of death metallers.”

King Ov Wyrms has already released a first single from the new album (“Threnody“), and today we’re helping spread the word about a second one — “Thorne Bearer“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WOMBBATH — “THE FLESHLY EXISTENCE OF MAN”

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Oct 142020
 

 

Few bands this year, or in any year, can celebrate the 30th anniversary of their inception. Sweden’s Wombbath is one of those rarities, having come into being in the ancient year of 1990. Like many bands, including the few extreme metal bands who still survive from that era, Wombbath did not have an unbroken path to the present. But following an extended hiatus that began not long after the release of their 1993 debut album Internal Caustic Torments, they made a tremendous return with 2015’s Downfall Rising and have been on a tear ever since then. The Great Desolation followed in 2018, and on December 18th of this waning year Transcending Obscurity Records will release a new Wombbath full-length entitled Tales of Madness. The band announced the new record with these words:

“We are proud to announce this very special release. 2020 marks 30 years since the birth of the band, and with this release we cement those 30 years with a retrospective look at our history, all dressed in what makes up Wombbath right now. Through pauses and style changes the core of Wombbath has always been death metal, and this release marks both the past and the future of our legacy!”

We could not be happier to premiere the first single fro the new album today, a seductive sonic slaughterer named “The Fleshly Existence of Man“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): INTAGLIO — “INTAGLIO” (15TH ANNIVERSARY REMIX)

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Oct 132020
 

 

On the 15th of October, 2005, Solitude Productions released the self-titled debut album of the Russian band Intaglio (also known as Инталия). The album made a deep impact, not only because Intaglio were one of the earlier pioneers of funeral doom in their homeland but also because the music created such a powerful and memorable amalgam of crushing weight, desolate atmosphere, and profound melody.

It is thus entirely fitting that on October 15 of this year, on the album’s 15th anniversary, Solitude Productions and Weird Truth Productions will be releasing a very special “reimagined” edition of the album. As they explain: “All the original source audio tracks have undergone restoration and processing using top of the line digital and analog gear. In place of the original version’s programming, all drum parts have been live recorded without the use of any triggering or sampling technology. The album was restored and remixed by Evgeny Semyonov (When Nothing Remains, Woe Unto Me, Sorrowful Land) at Slow Burn Studio, and mastering was performed by Mika Jussila (Shape Of Despair, Isole, Unholy, Moonspell) at Finnvox Studios.”

The results of this careful work are stunning, and an experience that no fan of funeral doom should miss. We are very happy to give you the chance to experience it today through the premiere of a full stream. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OMEGAVORTEX — “VOID POSSESSOR”

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Oct 122020
 

 

Omegavortex occupy a rare place in the hostile landscape of blackened death metal, where it often seems that everything is trying to kill you. In thinking about their music, metaphors like “maelstrom” and “vortex” come to mind, because the fury is explosive, chaotic, and rampantly destructive — but the band’s rocket-fast execution is technically mind-blowing and the composition of their songs is ingenious, albeit thoroughly demented.

These Germans were born under the name Ambevilence in 2007, and spent the first decade of their existence under that banner, but adopted their new name before releasing a 2018 promo. They followed that with the Spectral Blackness compilation and now at last have produced a debut album set for release by Invictus Productions on November 13. As fitting as their newer name is, the title of the album is equally evocative of the audio experience: Black Abomination Spawn.

If you haven’t yet heard any of the music on the new record (one song has been out in the world for a month), we’ll give you the chance to teleport yourself into the Omegavortex madhouse today through our premiere of the album’s fourth track, “Void Possessor“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GRIFFON — “LES PLAIES DU TRÔNE”

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Oct 122020
 

 

On October 23rd Les Acteurs de L’Ombre Productions will release the second album by the French melodic black metal band Griffon. Its title is ὸ θεός ὸ βασιλεύς (o Theos, o Basileus — the god, the king).

As the title suggests, the album thematically addresses the relationship between spiritual and temporal power over the span of millennia, when at times monarchs and religious peoples and institutions fought, cooperated, and sometimes claimed the power of the other as their own. Lyrically, the album begins with the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus and ends with a different kind of claimed union with the divine — the apotheosis of Roman emperors into godhood by the vote of the Senate.

In between those opening and closing tracks the songs use different languages and musical paths to explore episodes in the album’s historical narrative arc. Today we present one of those tracks, “Les plaies du trône” (the plagues of the throne), a song co-written by Griffon with Tedd from the French band Wyrms. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEPRAVITY — “CASTRATE THE PERPETRATORS”

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Oct 092020
 

 

With a song named “Castrate the Perpetrators“, conceived and executed by a band named Depravity, you’re already expecting a savage experience even if you haven’t previously heard the music of these Australian death-dealers. And trust us, your expectations will be satisfied, in spades. Yet you’ll also discovery that maniacal savagery is only part of the experience (albeit a significant part), and that the other dimensions of the music are just as gripping. And thus this is the kind of death metal brutality and rage that doesn’t wear out its welcome.

Of course, many of you already know something about the musical proclivities of Depravity thanks to their 2018 debut album Evil Upheaval, which was an eye-popping display of the belligerent yet ingenious talents of Depravity’s experienced line-up. Their new album Grand Malevolence is likely to open eyes even wider. It will be released by Transcending Obscurity Records on December 4th, and it’s home to the song we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

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