AN NCS PREMIERE: DEVIL WORSHIPPER — “MELANCHOLY LOVES THE DARK”

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Nov 122018
 

 

We have been ardent followers of the changing musical explorations of Matron Thorn for many years, through his work under the names Ævangelist, Benighted In Sodom, and Death Fetishist, to name but a few of his many morphing projects. His latest endeavor takes the name Devil Worshipper, a project in which he is joined by Fr.A.A. (from Portugal’s Tod Huetet Uebel) and Erethe Arashiel as vocalists, with guest appearances by Kabukimono and Sebastian Montesi (of Auroch and Mitochondrion).

The debut album of Devil Worshipper, Music For the Endtimes, will be released on December 14th by I, Voidhanger Records. The title makes no attempt to conceal what you’ll experience, and if you’re familiar with Matron Thorn’s previous work, you might also guess that in this particular sonic vision, things won’t end with a whimper. As the label accurately describes, this is the sound of “reality crumbling”, “revealing a nauseating yet fascinating abstract dimension of sin, depravation and oblivion.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CEREBRUM — “MEMORY HOAX”

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Nov 122018
 

 

Sometimes when record labels use the “for fans of” format to recommend new records, they drop names of other, usually better-known, groups in ways that seem mystifying when you listen to the music. Such references may prove alluring, but they become disappointing or, even worse, deceptive, when you discover that what’s being promoted doesn’t measure up, or doesn’t even live in the same neighborhood as the reference points. But in the case of Cerebrum, the references by the Transcending Obscurity label seem spot-on.

In highlighting the music on this Greek band’s new album, Iridium, Transcending Obscurity recommends it to fans of mid-period Death, Cynic, Atheist, and Necrophagist. It is a form of technical death metal, but not the kind of “tech-death” that has become a kind of nuclear arms race in the modern scene, in which speed, agility, and ever-more-extravagant efforts to pack in notes and beats per second can lead to a mechanistic soullessness. Cerebrum also haven’t forgotten that what they’re creating is DEATH METAL, even if they mount their ferocious assaults with impressive intricacy and technical skill. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: COMATOSE — “FOREVER REIGN SUPREME”

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Nov 112018
 

 

The Ungodly Lamentations is the second album from the Philippine death metal band Comatose, who first came together in 2003 in Cebu City. Their debut album, The Ultimate Revenge, was originally recorded in 2011 and later released in 2015 by Satanath Records and Darzamadicus Records, a year that also saw the release of the band’s Thy Mighty Conquest demo.

This second album is the work of a new line-up in which (among other changes) founder LD “Bellz” Lee has become the vocalist as well as a guitarist, joined by guitarist Milojan Mondejar, bassist Surge Inso (Black Mantra) and drummer Kyndall Cesar (Astarus).

And now that we have those details out of the way, let’s get murdered by “Forever Reign Supreme”. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NIHILISTINEN BARBAARISUUS — “IMMACULATE DECONCEPTION”

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Nov 102018
 

 

I first encountered “Immaculate Deconception” two-and-a-half years ago when it was released as a single on tape (by the Ukrainian label Depressive Illusions Records), and wrote about it here soon after. Later that year, in a revised recording, it was included on this band’s latest EP, Madness Incarnate, which was released by Symbol of Domination Productions (and is still available through that label on CD, as well as digitally). And now, we all have a chance to revisit this striking song because it has become the basis for a new lyric video that we’re premiering today.

For those who might be discovering Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus through this video for the first time, it is a Philadelphia-based black metal band co-founded by a man of Finnish heritage and dual citizenship (Mika Mage); the band’s name means “nihilistic barbarity”. On Madness Incarnate he composed all the music and performed guitars and synths, enlisting drummer Joffre Videz and bassist Manuel Rodriguez for the recording, and vocal contributions from James Dorton (Black Crown Initiate, Nightfire, Aborted Existence, Antikythera), Joel Robert Thompson (ex-Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus, Omelas), and Gary Hadden (Lesch-Nyhan) — whose voice you’ll hear and whose lyrics you’ll read on “Immaculate Deconception”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ORDER OF THE NAMELESS ONES — “PRAISE YOUR SINISTER FORM”

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Nov 092018
 

 

There’s no mistaking the moods of utter misanthropy and nightmarish horror that radiate from the music of Order of the Nameless Ones. Their sound envelopes the listener like a toxic miasma, poisons the mind, chokes the throat, and banishes the light from your eyes, creating visions of writhing, malignant forms obscured by shadow and promising only death.

The Lovecraftian sources of the band’s barbaric inspirations are evident; their devotion to the most horrid expressions of blackened death metal is unremitting. Not for the faint of heart, as they say, yet there is something addictive as well as virulent about these assaults on the mind, something weirdly mesmerizing as well as foul.

But judge for yourselves: We have a track from the band’s debut album for your consideration. The title of the album is Utter to Me the Word of Wrath, and it will be released by Iron Bonehead Productions on December 7th. The song is “Praise Your Sinister Form“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DANTALION — “THE END OF EVERYTHING”

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Nov 092018
 

 

Earlier this fall The Way of the Hermit released the seventh album by the veteran Spanish extreme metal band Dantalion (whose career extends back to 2004), fittingly entitled The Seventh Wandering Soul. It presents more than 40 minutes of death/doom (with a bit of blackened charring from the band’s earlier days), and comes recommended for fans of the early classic sounds of My Dying Bride, November’s Doom, Katatonia, Swallow the Sun, Paradise Lost, and Morgion.

To help introduce the album to new listeners Dantalion and The Way of the Hermit have crafted a lyric video for the new album’s penultimate track, “The End of Everything“, and we’re very happy to share it with you today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NECROSPELL — “RESTLESS HATE”

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Nov 092018
 

 

In the realms of extreme metal there is no assurance that the grave lays a lasting claim, no protection against the day when long-dormant musical ravagers will hungrily claw their way through unhallowed soil back to the surface, to gnash their teeth and spoliate the air waves once again. Not all such revivals of the ghoulish un-dead turn out to be welcome occurrences, but Necrospell are proving that their resurrection is one to be applauded.

Necrospell took their first fetid breathes in the early years of the ’90s and became one of the earliest extreme metal bands in southern Italy. By 1994 they had recorded a cult demo tape named As Darkness Falls, but by 1996 they had dissolved. Now, more than two decades later, they have returned with a line-up that includes the two original guitarists and new members.

Their new album, Awakening of Tyrants, will be released on November 23rd by GrimmDistribution (Ukraine) with Murdher Records (Italy), and to aid in their reanimation we have a mind-bending new song for you today, appropriately named “Restless Hate“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: A THOUSAND SUFFERINGS — “FACES”

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Nov 082018
 

 

With a 2015 debut album (Burden) and a 2017 split with Marche Funèbre in their review mirror, the Belgian band A Thousand Sufferings are on the brink of returning with a second album, Bleakness, which will be released on November 22nd by Symbol of Domination. It won’t be a happy occurrence, as you might guess from the album’s title and the band’s name, even if you were unfamiliar with their previous creations. But pain and gloom become manifest in different ways through music, just as they do in our lives.

The concoctions of blackened sludge and doom brewed by A Thousand Sufferings is a particularly intense portrayal of disillusionment and death, almost merciless in the scraped-raw immediacy of its maimed and wounding sounds. As displayed through the song we’re premiering today, they channel feelings of betrayal and disgust, torture and fury, with emotionally compelling power — without foregoing the appeal of head-moving rhythms and melodies that will stay with you. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OMNIPOTENCE — “PATHS TO OBLIVION”

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Nov 082018
 

 

Vancouver’s Omnipotence seem to have struck like a lightning flash out of the clear blue sky, with their first release being a debut album named Praecipitium that will be presented by no less a label than the mighty Iron Bonehead Productions on December 7th. But it doesn’t take long to realize why the label so readily embraced the band in this, their first endeavor. One listen to the song we’re premiering today will be explanation enough.

“Paths To Oblivion” vividly reveals the group’s sinister and sorcerous powers, and their ability to write songs that harness the ferocity and heavyweight punch of black and death metal while also delivering melodies that prove to be insidiously memorable. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ETHIR ANDUIN — “MEANINGLESS EXISTENCE”

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Nov 072018
 

 

I’ve observed more than once in our pages that creating purely instrumental metal in compositions of unusual length is a challenge fraught with risk. Even a song of more than 10 minutes that includes voices puts demands on the attention of discerning listeners that are difficult to reward, and when the additional sonic textures and emotional energies that can be contributed by a good vocalist are subtracted from the equation, the dangers of drifting attention are magnified.

Of course, we can all think of at least a few examples of musicians capable of surmounting such challenges, whose lengthy compositions and instrumental performances grab hold of our heads and don’t let go until they’re ready to. And I think we have a new example of such prowess for you here, in the track we’re premiering from the new album by the Russian band Ethir Anduin. The song’s name is “Meaningless Existence“. Continue reading »

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