AN NCS PREMIERE: GOATBURNER — “VORTEX OF CHAOS”

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Sep 092019
 

 

Unless Goatburner are clairvoyant they probably couldn’t have known, when this premiere was arranged, that their song “Vortex of Chaos” — which is about the obliterating power of an immense hurricane — would be released barely one week after the monstrous Hurricane Dorian absolutely destroyed portions of the Bahamas, leaving more than 70,000 people homeless and a death toll of 44 (at this writing) before moving on to ravage the Outer Banks of North Carolina and now far-eastern Canada.

On the other hand, their debut album Extreme Conditions thematically focuses on the extreme and unpredictable weather events that are increasingly plaguing the current world. If Hurricane Dorian had not followed the completion of the album, some other horrific extratropical or tropical cyclone undoubtedly would have. But this Finnish duo composed of Keijo Niinimaa (Rotten Sound, Morbid Evils, Age of Woe) and Jaakko Forsman (Ratface, Skulmagot) are aware of Dorian now, and Keijo provided this comment not long after that hurricane’s tragic destruction in the Bahamas: Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: DIKASTERION — “STAVELOT 1597 / ROME 897”

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Sep 062019
 

 

Building on the strength of their slaughtering 2018 debut demo, the Belgian black/death band Dikasterion have escaped Hell again, and brought much of Hell with them in a new two-track release coming our way via Amor Fati Productions on September 9th — next Monday. If you think those references to hellish power were exaggerations, just listen to Stavelot 1597 / Rome 897 (which we’re giving you the chance to do a bit further on in this post).

Only two songs long, this is the kind of pull-no-punches barbarity capable of leaving a listener mind-mangled but crackling with electricity and wishing it were longer. Make no mistake, it’s a cruel and ugly assault on the senses, not any kind of experience for the faint of heart. But as toxic, brutish, and maniacal as the music may be, these sulfurous, diabolical assaults get the pulse pounding with primal power. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WELLS VALLEY — “PLEROMA”

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Sep 062019
 

 

Music can cause us to move and shake, to throw our heads back in joy or hammer them like ecstatic pistons, caught up in the thrill of being alive. Music also has the capacity to fire the imagination, to cause our minds to spontaneously conceive unbidden images and experiences that never actually happened, to carry us away to places we’ve never visited and that may not actually exist, to create spells that may haunt us for reasons we might not be able to readily identify.

Both kinds of music — the fun kinds and the more profound and mysterious varieties — can stay with us, but the latter often seem to settle in more deeply and to make mental and emotional connections that are longer-lasting. It’s fair to say that the new Wells Valley track we’re presenting today is of that variety, an immersive and spellbinding experience that sends the mind’s eye off into realms of the imagination while also evoking powerful emotions that might not be anywhere near the surface of your feelings when the song begins.

Because “Pleroma” is that kind of experience, it’s entirely fitting that this Portuguese band has presented it through a transfixing video (directed by Guilherme Henriques) that is itself a flight of the imagination, a sequence of surreal visions that sometimes seem to lurk at the edge of reality, reminiscent of sights that sometimes seem familiar but are bent from the normal frames of reference, but sometimes seem utterly alien — and frightening. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SACCAGE — “LA KERMESSE DU CHARNIER”

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Sep 052019
 

 

Now well into their second decade of existence, the Québec City band Saccage will be releasing their third album, Khaos Mortem, on September 20 through a triumvirate of labels. The name of their first album — Death Crust Satanique — provides a succinct summing up of their sound, but although the new album continues to lash together death metal and crust, it leans harder into the elements of death metal, creating an experience that’s heavier, darker, more brutal, more crushing — and absolutely explosive.

The new album also unmistakably displays the collective experience of the band’s members. They’re sonic executioners to be sure, but the performances are sharp as well as lethal, and the songs prove to be dynamic and multi-faceted, without diminishing the fury that propels them. We have a prime example of those qualities in the track we’re presenting today — “La Kermesse Du Charnier“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PHOBOPHILIC — “DIMINISHED TO UNBEING”

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Sep 052019
 

 

Like many (but not all) music writers, we prefer to concoct our own impressions and descriptive phrases for what we hear rather than lazily falling back on the PR verbiage that accompanies the music we receive, which isn’t exactly a disinterested assessment to begin with. On the other hand, sometimes the PR material nails it. A case in point: the press material for Undimensioned Identities, the impressive second demo by Phobophilic from Fargo, North Dakota. As recounted by Rotted Life Records and Blood Harvest Records, who will be releasing the demo in the U.S. and Europe, respectively:

“Undimensioned Identities is a tilted and deranged-enough variant of old-school death metal that it’s clear the four-piece are more focused on looking forward than backwards. Propelled by protean and corkscrewing riffs, the four tracks here are crafted with methodical precision, evoking majestic Lovecraftian horrors and creating cataclysmic maelstroms of madness and rot, while delivering a skillfully enunciated performance with a detailed production that never slips into the brackish sonic murk that’s typical of newer bands schooled on the seminal Incantation sound”.

Some nice turns of phrase in there, and better yet, it’s all true. Of course we have some words of our own, but better yet we have the premiere of a song from the demo named “Diminished To Unbeing“, presented through a video of the band’s performance of the song. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RIPPER — “SENSORY STAGNATION”

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Sep 052019
 

 

If you’re unaware that Unspeakable Axe will be releasing a new Ripper EP on September 30, that means you haven’t been checking in with us every day (shame on you!). We’ve written enthusiastically about the first single from that EP here, and we’ve also reviewed the EP as a whole. In a nutshell, it’s fantastic. That should come as no shock to anyone who’s familiar with this Chilean band’s previous work, but what might be surprising is how much further they’ve spread their prodigious (dragon) wings through these five new songs.

The name of the new EP is Sensory Stagnation, which is an interesting title, because the music is instead the antidote to sensory stagnation. It’s hard to comprehend how anyone could be bored with the state of metal these days, though some über-elitists profess to be. But for any benighted souls who do think metal is stagnating, Ripper’s newest offering will wake you up just as effectively as taking a seat in Old Sparky and riding the lightning. As proof of that, we’re following up the EP’s first advance track with a premiere of the title song today. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SLAUGHTBBATH

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Sep 032019
 

 

You might be surprised to learn that the Chilean band Slaughtbbath hail from San Vicente de Tagua Tagua, a small countryside town that we’re informed has no metal scene at all. It is an unexpected source for the kind of absolutely electrifying and utterly ferocious power that this demonic trio have channeled through their amalgam of black metal, death metal, and thrash — a power surge that has punched straight through the red zone on their new album Alchemical Warfare, which will be released by Hells Headbangers on September 6th — and which we’re proudly premiering today.

The band waste no time releasing the whirlwind, opening the album through “Ritual Bloodbath” with the sounds of utter mayhem and then a lightning storm of brazen, blaring riffs, rampantly maniacal drumming, and utterly vicious vocal barbarism. Those sounds are delivered with explosive volume and intensity. The guitar leads writhe like fire elementals freed from their magical chains. The percussive propulsion is both turbo-charged and seems to change in the patterns and progressions from second to second. The vocalist ultimately resorts to wild screaming, caught up in the incendiary madness of this music — and who could blame him? Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NACHTTERROR — “SEA OF DREAD”

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Sep 022019
 

 

Nachtterror‘s new album Judgement is one of those rarities that lavishly combines music and visual art, presenting a separate piece of painted artwork for each track — and it’s even more rare because the visual artist is also one of the band’s two vocalist/guitarists. You can see his album cover above — which we’re presenting for the first time — and after the jump you’ll see his evocative art for the song, “Sea of Dread” that we’re premiering today in the run-up to the album’s October 10 release by Hypnotic Dirge.

Judgement is this Saskatchewan symphonic black metal band’s first release since their 2015 split with Altars of Grief, entitled Of Ash and Dying Light. That split made a huge impact on those of us here at NCS, and on many other listeners. We had the privilege of premiering a track from that split by each band, and Nachtterror‘s contributions to the split displayed gripping dynamism in their compositions and an ability to create enveloping atmospheres of darkness around the ebbs and flows of intensity.

Since then, as this new song reveals, they’ve become even more accomplished in their craft, though that shouldn’t be surprising since Judgement has been nearly 10 years in the making. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IGNIVOMOUS — “SHACKLES OF THE DEMIURGE”

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Sep 022019
 

 

Within the wide-ranging expanse of death metal some bands devote themselves to music of monstrous, primeval power, ruthlessly savaging the mind with the sounds of violence, oppression, and horrifying degradation. The Australian band Ignivomous are within that lineage, and have been honing their evil craft for more than a decade. Their growing mastery is on full display in their new album, the first one since 2012’s Contragenesis. Entitled Hieroglossia, it will be released by Nuclear War Now! Productions on November 15th.

For this ravaging new album the band’s core membership of Sean Hinds (guitar), Chris Broadway (drums), and Jael Edwards (vocals) has remained in place, augmented by the recording debuts of guitarist Lewis Fischer (Altars) and bassist Chris Jordon (Inverloch, Eskhaton). Thematically, we’re told, “Heiroglossia continues Ignivomous’ investigation into topics of Philosophical pessimism, influenced by the works of Thomas Ligotti and E.M. Cioran, and Gnostic concepts of the fallen and hostile nature of the material world.”

Today we’re presenting a new song from Heiroglossia, but before we get to today’s premiere, let’s first consider a previously released song from the album, because you’ll encounter it first in the Bandcamp player below. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): EZKATON — “SHEEN AND MISERY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  5 Responses »
Aug 312019
 

 

We have a rare Saturday premiere, for a rare album, with a few words of introduction (okay, more than a few).

Building on the strength of three fine previous releases the Ukrainian atmospheric black metal band Ezkaton has completed a fourth one, a new album named Sheen and Misery. That’s what we’re presenting today through a stream of its 12 songs before the September 2nd release by Ashen Dominion. The title of the album itself reveals a great deal about the music, as does the record’s conceptual premise. Continue reading »

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