AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CRYPTERIA — “CORRUPTED TEXT”

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Jan 162019
 

 

We have an out-of-the-ordinary lyric video to present today. The subject matter will be familiar to fans of extreme metal, since at a very high level it concerns the deluding and damaging effects of religious teachings, but the inspirations for the lyrics and their approach to the subject matter isn’t run-of-the-mill at all.

The song that’s presented through the video is “Corrupted Text“, and it appears on the self-titled debut album by the Floridian death metal band Crypteria, which was released last fall and is recommended for fans of Decapitated, Morbid Angel, Soreption, Dyscarnate, and Aborted.

The band’s name is itself thought-provoking, since it refers to the Spartan secret police, a state institution that (as the band explain) “suppressed opposition and controlled the servile Helot population of Sparta”, maintaining order through brutal means. And while Crypteria (the band) didn’t choose the name as an endorsement of merciless repression, their music is undeniably brutal. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HORRISONOUS — “NOURISHMENT THROUGH EXCREMENT”

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Jan 152019
 

 

Gaze upon the grotesque, brain-eating monstrosity depicted in the cover art. Reflect upon the name of the album, A Culinary Cacophony, as well as some of the song titles — such amusing formulations as “Perpetual Mincing”, “Flesh Presented For Orgasmic Torment”, “Crispy Chunks of the Obese”, “The Number of the Feast”, and the delectable “Nourishment Through Excrement“, which is the track we’re presenting today.

It’s all so over-the-top that it might make you wonder just how serious Horrisonous are about what they’re doing, or conceivably might lead you to suspect that their music is some kind of gore-fetished brutal death metal.

So, let’s be clear: There is indeed a grotesque, macabre atmosphere to the brand of death metal that this Australian band have crafted, but the music is apocalyptically doomed, remorselessly destructive, and no joke at all. The fact that the line-up consists of current or former members of such bands as Temple Nightside, Backyard Mortuary, The Slow Death, Illimitable Dolor, and Pestilential Shadows might be enough to clue you in, but of course the best evidence is the music itself. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WRETCHED FATE — “WRETCHED FATE”

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Jan 152019
 

 

It has become so commonplace as to be clichéd for death metal bands and labels to claim that their music, though immersed in old-school traditions, nevertheless brings something new to the table — and it rarely proves to be true. Much of the time, the alleged up-dating consists of little more than more modern production techniques, which sometimes only succeeds in robbing the music of the rough and raw power it once had. And particularly in the case of old school Swedish death metal, there’s not much you can do to vary the sound without breaking the chain that links the music to its origins.

The Swedish band Wretched Fate, on the other hand, really have found a sweet spot, indulging a genuine passion for death metal of the past, but in a way that doesn’t sound formulaic. They’ve undeniably caught the sound and spirit of the giants on whose shoulders they stand, but have injected their songs with a fieriness and flair that we rarely encounter in the music of groups whose inspirations are so firmly rooted in an era that’s now nearly three decades old. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: OF HATRED SPAWN — “SEVERED LIMB CONVULSION” (DRUM PLAYTHROUGH)

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Jan 142019
 

 

Man, have we got a treat for you today, the kind of treat that’s sure to uncork your adrenal glands and get your blood racing. The song by Toronto-based Of Hatred Spawn that’s featured in the video we’re presenting is a big part of what triggers that response, but just watching drummer JJ Tartaglia (Skull Fist) do his thing behind the kit is equally electrifying.

That song, “Severed Limb Convulsion“, comes from this ferocious death metal band’s self-titled debut album, which was released by Boonsdale Records on December 21, 2018. The same song was also the subject of a previously released guitar-playthrough video featuring the performance of JJ‘s brother Remy Tartaglia (ex-Unbidden). The band’s line-up is completed by bassist Oscar Rangel (ex-Annihilator) and vocalist Matt “Coldcuts” Collacott. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VILE APPARITION — “REPULSIVE DESIRE”

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Jan 112019
 

 

Depravity Ordained is the name of the debut album by Vile Apparition from Melbourne, Australia, which will be released by Memento Mori on January 21st — and the music is indeed depraved, delivering an especially brutish and electrifying form of old-school death metal malignancy.

But before we get to the music — a new excerpt of which we’re presenting today — how about that metal AF cover art?!? Immediately attention-grabbing, it’s also the kind of macabre rendering that stays with you, and will likely lure listeners into this music just as effectively as any words might do. Kudos to Chaostouched for this glorious creation! And now, on to the music… Continue reading »

EXPERIOR OBSCURA: “AWAKE, WAKING!”

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Jan 112019
 

 

The Italian black metal band Malvento has been a continuing source of fascination over the course of four albums and numerous splits as their esoteric musical formulations have morphed and evolved over a career that now spans more than 20 years. We have had the fiendish pleasure of premiering some of that band’s more recent twisted creations, and remain eager (and perhaps a bit fearful) to discover what they might do next. In the meantime, we’ve learned that Malvento guitarist Nefastus is behind a solo project called Experior Obscura, which is itself a source of chilling fascination.

A little more than two years ago Experior Obscura self-released in digital form a debut album named Iter in Nebula (on which Nefastus was aided by drummer “R“), and followed that in 2017 with a split release in partnership with Malvento entitled Abyssus Abyssum Invocat, which included two of the tracks from Iter In Nebula. That split took physical form as a cassette tape, but the quantities were so limited that only a few handfuls of people were able to draw it within their clutches.

In short, Experior Obscura, true to its name, has dwelled in a shadowed obscurity. But its existence is about to become less obscure, because the UK-based label Third I Rex, whose selections have proven to be persistently intriguing, will be releasing Iter In Nebula next month, both digitally and in a limited CD digipack edition. That will undoubtedly expose Experior Obscura‘s diabolical talents to a wider audience, and we’re doing our own part to advance that cause today by presenting the stream of a track named “Awake, Waking!“ Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE WANDERING ASCETIC — “I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC”

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Jan 102019
 

 

We have made no secret at this site of our long-standing admiration for the long-running Singaporean “Vedic Metal” band Rudra. And it was the wonderful memories of Rudra’s creations that peaked our interest in The Wandering Ascetic, another Singapore-based band whose line-up includes members of Rudra (vocalist Kathir and guitarist Vinod) along with bassist Jayakumar and drummer Kannan K.

The Wandering Ascetic‘s debut album, Crimson, reflects the compositional skill of Rudra, but pursues a stylistic course that’s different, though not without its own exotic accents. The album will be released on February 12th by Transcending Obscurity Asia, and today we present the second “single” from the album, a track named “I Sing the Body Electric“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PULCHRA MORTE — “SHADOWS FROM THE CROSS”

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Jan 092019
 

 

The American death/doom band Pulchra Morte (“beautiful death”) began to take shape in 2017 through the collaboration of vocalist Jason Barron, drummer/backing vocalist Clayton Gore, and guitarist Jeffrey Breden. Eventually they were joined by bassist Dylan Kilgore and guitarist Jarrett Pritchard, who also recorded the band’s new album, Divina Autem Et Aniles, adding it to a long list of other records he has produced and engineered (for such bands as 1349, Goatwhore, Wolvhammer, Gruesome, Exhumed, and Brutality).

But the talents brought to bear on the creation of Divina Autem Et Aniles don’t end with that quintet of artists (who collectively are current or former members of Wolvhammer, Eulogy, Harkonin, and Withered, among others). The album also includes the vocal talents of former Eulogy participant Heather Dykstra, the performance of cellist Naarah Strokosch, and additional backing vocals by Tor Stavenes (1349, Svart Lotus); it was mastered by Chris Common (Tribulation, Primordial, Exhumed, Gruesome); and it features cover art by Jordan Barlow (Goatwhore, Haarp, Psychon Vex).

We suspect all these credits will have seized your attention by now, but the payoff (of course) is in the music, and we have a hefty downpayment for you today in a premiere stream of the album’s eighth track (out of 10), “Shadows From the Cross“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KATECHON — “RENSELSEN”

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Jan 092019
 

 

The complex of concentration camps established by the Nazis at Auschwitz in occupied Poland is perhaps an unparalleled testament to the horrors that human beings are capable of inflicting on each other. At Auschwitz more than 1,000,000 people were exterminated in the gas chambers or died of starvation, forced labor, infectious diseases, individual executions, and grotesque medical experiments. One need not resort to demonology or monsters of the imagination to find embodiments of evil — Auschwitz showed that it walks the earth in the form of man.

The terrors of those death camps provided the inspiration for the new album by the excellent Norwegian black/death band Katechon, to be released by their new label Saturnal Records in March. Entitled Sanger Fra Auschwitz, the record is the result of almost a year and a half of work in the studio by a line-up that has changed since the band’s last album, 2015’s Coronation, and the music reflects changes as well, as will become apparent from the track we’re presenting for the first time today: “Renselsen“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BASILYSK — “FIRE (IN THE TEMPLE OF SACRIFICE)”

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Jan 082019
 

 

Basilysk pull off quite a feat on the song from their new album that we’re premiering today. In the span of less than six minutes, they deliver the adrenaline rush and convulsing infectiousness of thrash, the heaviness and harshness of old school death metal, and the kind of blazing instrumental fireworks that will appeal to fans of tech-death — and then add so many other extravagant, prog-influenced embellishments that the song becomes an experience in ever-increasing, eye-popping excitement.

The song’s name is “Fire (In the Temple of Sacrifice)” and it comes from this Philadelphia-based quartet’s new album Emergence, which is set for release on February 22nd. This track follows the previous premiere of “Sinners Of Their Own Reality“, which debuted last fall at DECIBEL, and which we’ll also give you a chance to hear in case you missed it. Continue reading »

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