AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DÏATRÏBE — “ODITE SERMONIS”

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Mar 262021
 

 

The French one-man band Dïatrïbe came into existence in 2019, “with the aim” (as its creator explains) “of creating radical and intense music, an extension of the French Orthodox scene.” Embracing the mysticism and spiritual subject matter of black metal, Dïatrïbe devoted itself to “the artistic exploration of something else, creeping and powerful like a fiery cloud, uncompromising with very clear guidelines, acceptance to let go to the unknown, the search for this unexplained vibration that grabs us between fear and fascination… an artistic vision of the unfathomable, indomitable abyss hidden behind all things”.

We use those words to begin introducing our premiere of Dïatrïbe’s debut EP Odite Sermonis because they succeed so well as a preview of the music to come — perhaps especially in their reference to the “unexplained vibration that grabs us between fear and fascination”, because that is indeed what these six tracks achieve in striking fashion. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE PLAGUE — “FESTERING IN SICKNESS”

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Mar 252021
 

 

Hailing from Sydney, Australia, The Plague erupted from cemetery earth in 2017 with a debut EP appropriately named Mass Genocide, and then honed their grisly blades with live performances in support of such bands as Angelcorpse, Master, Entombed AD, and Ensiferum (among many others). And now the time has almost come for them to reveal their debut album Within Death, which will be released on April 21st by Bitter Loss Records.

The music of this full-length debut does indeed live within death — death metal of the old school to be precise, of a particularly mauling and murderous, gruesome and ghastly variety. Powered by that beloved chainsawing guitar distortion, propelled by bone-smashing drumwork, and elevated into rarified air by truly astonishing vocal madness, The Plague‘s music is electrifying. We have little doubt that (as the advance press claims) it will strongly appeal to fans of classic Dismember and Entombed as well as more recent entrants such as LIK and Entrails.

The band have released a couple of singles from the album already, and today we’re presenting another one — “Festering In Sickness“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FUCKER — “BASTARD LIAR”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 252021
 

 

As historical artifacts go, the forthcoming compilation of music by the Russian band Fucker (entitled Dichlofos) is an un-earthing of sounds that’s unlikely to generate global headlines. It may be immediately meaningful only to a collective of nostalgic Russian fans, but though I knew nothing about Fucker before being introducing to this new comp, I’m still getting my own feelings of nostalgia from the music, and so agreed to make this premiere today.

Fucker’s music is sometimes pretty far off the usual beaten paths at this site. The vocals do get harsh, but mainly consist of singing in the tracks we’re presenting, and those tracks are far more rock ‘n’ roll and old school heavy metal than the kind of extreme stuff we usually spread around. But on the other hand, the songs do pack a visceral punch, and they’re definitely devilish. But before we get to the music, a history lesson is in order, one with its fair share of tragedy. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NUCLEAR WINTER — “THE HARVEST MOON”

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Mar 242021
 

 

The Zimbabwean metal band Nuclear Winter (the solo work of Gary Stautmeister) is following up its last release, the 2020 EP Stormscapes, with a second full-length named Greystone. It’s projected for release via the South African label MMD Records on May 21 of this year. In the lead-up to the album release Nuclear Winter has begun releasing stand-alone singles from the record. The first of those was “Corridor of Shells“, and today we present a second one, “The Harvest Moon“.

Nuclear Winter‘s music has evolved, and as Stautmeister has commented, this new release is “more electronic” than the previous EP and displays improved production values, but still employs an amalgam of industrial and melodic death metal. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UTBURD — “STORIES OF WORLD WINDS”

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Mar 242021
 

 

Story of Frozen Souls is the name of the forthcoming third album by the Russian atmospheric black metal band Utburd. It is a concept album which takes as its historical subject matter the early exploration of Antarctica, encompassing the journeys of James Ross, Ernest Shackleton and Robert Scott, seasoned with Edgar Poe’s novel (his only complete novel) about the adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.

Anyone who has done any reading about these explorations is aware that they are replete with tales of heroism, foolhardiness, terror, madness, and death, all of them shrouded in bitter cold and oppressive darkness. How has Utburd attempted to capture such sensations in sound? We have an example today in our premiere of the album’s eighth track, “Stories of World Winds“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HYMNR — “PART III”

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Mar 232021
 

 

Providing only a glimpse of its extravagant talents last year, the black metal band Hymnr (a trio of unknown locations) will soon reveal the full flowering of their unearthly wonders through a debut album named (fittingly) Far Beyond Insanity. With a release date of April 23rd through Saturnal Records, the album consists of four long tracks ranging from 8 to 13 minutes in length, and today it’s our great pleasure to premiere the longest of them.

Both the band and the album have a conceptual focus (the tracks on Far Beyond Insanity are identified only as Parts I through IV), though the concept is mysterious (as is the music). We are told only that “the concept of Hymnr is its own tale of the tragic path that has led the world, humanity, and religion down this downwards spiral that this cosmic plane has become.”

Every Part in this tale of how everything ended up here is so fascinating (and disturbing) that the experiences become transfixing — and that is certainly true of Part III, the piece that we’re presenting today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: APES OF GOD — “EMERGIDOS DEL ODIO Y RENCOR”

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Mar 222021
 

The Salvadoran death/thrashers Apes of God made their first demo release in 2016 and followed that with an EP, a pair of splits, and then their debut full-length Misanthropy in 2018. Additional short releases followed, but the band was jarred by the murder of their vocalist César Canales in August 2019 during a festival performance. The band decided to remain active but never to play a show in El Salvador again.

With new vocalist Aldair Mejía in the line-up, Apes of God have recorded their second album, En el Recinto de la Tempestad, and it’s now set for release on April 28th by Death in Pieces Records, Deathrockersorrow Records, and Morbid Skull Records.

This is a 10-track album, and today, to help introduce it, we’re premiering the record’s closing track “Emergidos del Odio y Rencor”. It’s a savage scorcher of a song, and turns out to be a highly infectious one too. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GREY SKIES FALLEN — “COLD DEAD LANDS”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  2 Responses »
Mar 222021
 

 

The New York band Grey Skies Fallen first took shape in 1996 under the name Eve of Mourning before adopting their current moniker the following year. In the quarter-century since then they’ve released a pair of EPs and five albums. The last of those full-lengths, Cold Dead Lands, first saw the light of day in January of last year, with an independent digital release and a CD release by Old Souls Collective. But the album is about to be jointly reissued by GrimmDistribution with Paragon Records and More Hate Productions, and we’re helping to spread the word about that by featuring the album’s title track today.

And so this is one of those situations that isn’t a true premiere, though it will undoubtedly be the first time some of you have heard the song, and thus hopefully will provide a good introduction to newcomers about the immense sonic and emotional power of the record in advance of the April 8th reissue. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: APOGEAN — “CHRONO”

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Mar 192021
 

 

The Toronto-based technical death metal band Apogean will be introducing themselves to metal-loving peoples world-wide through a new EP named Into Madness. It’s based on a conceptual narrative that is intensely disturbing on a planetary scale — in the band’s description, a story “of the fall from the heights of sanity, to the very depths of madness and all that can be experienced on this journey,” with the music carrying the listener on “this path of knowledge, loss, and resurgence”.

Apogean will be releasing the EP as a series of singles, and today we present a lyric video for the first of them, a track called “Chrono“. It is the second track on the EP, and the second chapter” in the story arc. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BECERUS — “GROTESQUE PARSIFAL SUCURANDUS”

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Mar 192021
 

 

We’re going to assume for the moment that you caught our premiere of a track off the debut album by Becerus about one month ago. If you did check out that song (““Primeval Ignorantia”), then you already know that the music of Becerus is surprising in more ways than one. It’s surprising, first, because this Sicilian group sound a lot more seasoned than their newcomer status would suggest (perhaps less of a shock when you learn that the band includes members of Assumption and Balatonizer). But it’s also surprising because there’s more going on in their songs than brutish caveman bludgeoning, which is what the outward trappings of the band might lead you to guess.

And if you didn’t catch that previous premiere, then you’ll get to experience these surprises for the first time, because today we’re presenting yet another song off the new album, Homo Homini Brutus, which is set for release on April 30th by Everlasting Spew Records. Continue reading »

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