AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BURIED REALM — “THE WONDER AND TERROR OF FORTUNE”

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Jun 262020
 

 

The Colorado-based melodic death metal band Buried Realm made quite a splash with its debut album The Ichor Carcinoma in 2017. It showcased the guitar wizardry and vocal dynamics of the band’s alter ego, solo artist Josh Dummer, and featured guest performances by such luminaries as such as Christopher Amott (Arch Enemy, Armageddon), Peter Wichers (Soilwork), Teemu Mäntysaari (Wintersun), and Travis Montgomery (Threat Signal, Jeff Loomis band). We summed it up as “so astoundingly exuberant and kaleidoscopic that it takes your breath away to hear it.”

Now Buried Realm is returning with a sophomore full-length named Embodiment of the Divine, which will be released on July 24th. Josh Dummer‘s songwriting and extravagant guitar talents are still the heart of the music, but he has again enlisted a tremendous array of guest performers. And as we did for the first album, we’re again premiering a song from the new one, a thoroughly exciting track called “The Wonder and Terror of Fortune“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ANGEL MORGUE — “COSMIC TORMENT”

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Jun 262020
 

 

“This release is likely to induce head-banging, living room moshing, raising of the horns, and many invisible oranges and ‘metal’ faces!” That was the enthusiastic message that Redefining Darkness Records sent to the label’s Bandcamp followers yesterday about In the Morgue of Angels, the debut album of the blasphemous New Hampshire quintet Angel Morgue, which RDR will be releasing on August 7th. And as if that come-on weren’t persuasive enough, Redefining Darkness also recommended the album for fans of Incantation, Immolation, Desolate, and Cruciamentum.

I’ve learned through experience that this label’s enthusiasm is genuine, and their taste in metallic extremity dependable. Still, to borrow the unofficial motto of Missouri, I prefer that someone “show me”. And I’ve been shown, in convincing fashion, and now we’ll show you that the words and name-drops above aren’t empty, but very well-founded. To do that we’re sharing today the first single released from the album — the well-named “Cosmic Torment“. Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: BLACK ALTAR AND KIRKEBRANN — “DEUS INVERSUS”

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Jun 252020
 

 

All devoted fans of black metal well know that it encompasses a broad range of variations, even among bands who maintain links to its earliest days. Even the bands who originated the first and second waves did not all follow the same path in the music they made. Truth be told, despite the rigid dictates of some hidebound fans and the debates we could have about when a band has crossed over into territories that don’t merit the name, the variability of black metal is one of its enduring strengths.

What we’re presenting today is proof of that assertion — a split by two abundantly talented groups who are unmistakably black metal bands but who each have their own distinctive approach. Both of them are capable of mounting hostile, diabolical assaults, to be sure, but each of them brings a lot more to the table than blasting fury, and the differences between those other ingredients makes this new album-length split a great one to pick up.

The bands are Black Altar from Poland and Kirkebrann from Norway. Their split is named Deus Inversus, and all the tracks are new and exclusive to this record. It will be released by Odium Records on June 30th, and today you can hear all of it — preceded by our thoughts about what each band has contributed. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SHED THE SKIN — “THE FORBIDDEN ARTS”

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Jun 242020
 

 

Regardless of how completely awful the current situation may be on almost too many levels to count, any year that includes a new album by Shed the Skin is a good year, and any day that gives us another chance to premiere their music is going to be a devilishly joyful one regardless of how miserable it might have been otherwise. It should also be a joy for all fans of evil but electrifying death metal.

We’ve been helping to spread the word about Shed the Skin for many years, but hopefully by now they don’t really need any more help. With a veteran line-up drawn from a host of well-known bands, they were able to hit the ground running with their 2014 EP Rebirth Through Brimstone and powered through to even greater acclaim with their first two albums, 2016’s Harrowing Faith and 2018’s We of Scorn. And now their steadfast label Hells Headbangers is poised to release their third album, The Forbidden Arts, on June 26th, and that’s what we’re giving you the chance to hear in full right now. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: KEVLAR BIKINI — “QUENCH”

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Jun 242020
 

 

Almost a full year before COVID-19 was even a blip on the global radar screen, the Croatian band Kevlar Bikini were exhorting people to stay at home. Or maybe this hardcore punk trio were just voicing their own social disengagement. The title of their new fourth album, OPT-OUTism, which was released on May 22nd by Geenger Records, seems to brandish a philosophy of self-isolation. One of the songs on the album, “Quench“, makes it explicit — and lest you think that track was crafted to be especially relevant in the current viral age, the song was written in February 2019.

“Quench” is the subject of the video we’re premiering today. And for those of our usual metalhead NCS visitors who might be feeling either perplexed or skeptical based on the band’s name, put aside any such misgivings and just give the music your attention. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEAD SUN — “A/B”

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Jun 232020
 

 

This song doesn’t go where you think it will. How it starts and how it ends are two completely different experiences. The band build a bridge between these two places over the course of the passing minutes, using the sound to carry you across a chasm — though what’s really happening, as you’ll discover, is that their bridge is carrying you into that chasm.

The song we’re presenting is the title track to A/B, the debut album of the Chicago band Dead Sun, which will be released on August 21 by Flesh and Bone Records. Their music is a bit off our usual beaten paths here at NCS — “slowcore/doomgaze” is one genre descriptor you might see, and there’s singing. But the emotional darkness in the music suits our tastes, and the phased transition that happens within this particular track has proved to be persistently enthralling even after many listens. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SANITY CONTROL — “WAR ON LIFE”

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Jun 232020
 

 

Imagine yourself strapped into an electric chair with an executioner who’s having fun maniacally flipping the switch on and off faster than a rat darting through a maze while another rabid maniac brays and barks in your face. Alternatively, if that sounds painful instead of exhilarating, imagine yourself bouncing off the walls like a ball bearing in a container locked into a pneumatic paint shaker. Still sound painful? Give me a minute and I’ll come up with another metaphor — because there’s not one damned thing painful about listening to Sanity Control‘s “War On Life“. It’s a mosh-triggering thrill-ride that’s likely to put a big stupid grin on your face.

As much of a blast as this new song is to hear, it’s also a destructive rocket fueled by fury and disgust. The band explain the song’s title, which is also the title of this Polish group’s forthcoming debut album: “Humans are the most destructive force on Earth. We live to kill and exist only to exploit everything that surrounds us. We are at war with life, at war with ourselves, and at war with this planet in which we live. In the end, can anything be saved?”

Good question. Especially because life is fighting back against us, and holding its own so far against our crumbling lines of defense. Continue reading »

AN NCS PLAYTHROUGH VIDEO PREMIERE: KAKOPHONIX PERFORMS HIS CELLO PART OF ABIGAIL WILLIAMS’ “BLACK WAVES”

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Jun 222020
 

 

During these last few months of covid lockdowns and social distancing, playthrough videos have proliferated like wildflowers in the spring, as ways for musicians to burn off some pent-up energy and to remind us that their bands still exist, even though they haven’t been able to gig and tour. The videos have not all been of equal quality, nor have they been uniformly interesting. And to be honest, we’ve resisted overtures to premiere playthrough videos, preferring to continue concentrating on new music rather than performances of songs that have been out in the world for a while.

But this video premiere is one we couldn’t resist.

In the first place, the subject is “Black Waves“, a tremendously good song from an album all of us here liked A LOT — Abigail Williams‘ 2019 album Walk Beyond the Dark (and you can and should read Andy Synn‘s review of it if you haven’t yet delved into the record).

And in the second place, the play-through is performed by cellist Kakophonix, whose contributions to the album were a significant factor in building the moments of haunting grandeur and epic atmosphere within the record, and it’s fascinating to watch and hear his performance. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BASTARD PRIEST — “EYES OF THE POSSESSED”

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Jun 222020
 

 

More than seven years ago I was moved to compile a list of the best Swedish death metal albums I had heard during the five preceding years, i.e., from 2008 through 2013. Just putting that list together was a reminder that the style is not monolithic, even though there are certain common attributes that tend to stand out.

In the intervening years we’ve seen both a revival and resurgence of older bands and the appearance of new bands who’ve been drawn to those ancient yet deathless sounds. One of the releases I included in that 2013 list was Bastard Priest’s second album, Ghouls of the Endless Night. That album came out in 2011, and had followed quickly on the heels of the band’s debut full-length, Under the Hammer of Destruction (2010). But the band broke up in 2013 and we’ve heard nothing further from them… until now.

Just last year the Bastard Priest duo of Matt Mendoza and Inventor re-formed, and are now returning with a new 16-minute EP aptly entitled Vengeance…Of The Damned, which will be jointly released on July 24th by U.S.-based Electric Assault Records, Mexico-based Chaos Records, and Japan-based Record BOY. Today we’re stoked to bring you the premiere of one of the new tracks — “Eyes of the Possessed“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FIDES INVERSA — “I AM THE ICONOCLASM”

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Jun 222020
 

 

Six years have passed, with one tremendously good EP to bisect the timeline, since the Italian black metal band Fides Inversa released their last album. Now they are returning, finished at last with years of work that have culminated in a new full-length. The new album, Historia Nocturna, has been set for release on July 22nd by W.T.C. Productions. It’s no exaggeration to say that the album is stupendous — larger than life in its sound and profoundly unearthly and diabolic in its atmosphere.

In the intervening years the core of the band –drummer/vocalist Omega and guitarist/bassist Void — have remained intact, joined here by vocalist Wraath (from Behexen, Dark Sonority, and Darvaza, among other groups). In Historia Nocturna they have created a dynamic listening experience, one in which the songs channel ravaging chaos and terrifying, awe-inspiring grandeur but also seem to pass through dimensional veils to join in a communion with spirits of the damned. The song we’re premiering today, “I Am the Iconoclasm“, is a stunning example of all those qualities. Continue reading »

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