AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GRAVES — “UNHOLY DESECRATION”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jul 022018
 

 

From the catacombs of the Portuguese black metal underground Signal Rex has unearthed Graves, presenting their blasphemous debut demo, Unholy Desecration, on cassette tape as a prelude to the band’s debut album coming later this year — and we’re presenting a full stream of the demo today.

As the label says, Unholy Desecration triggers memories of the French Légions Noires, of the Portuguese Black Circle, and of raw Finnish black metal from the past couple of decades. But while devoted to certain recognizable traditions, Graves‘ devotion isn’t slavish. Their own talent shines through with mortifying vibrancy. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INFURIATE — “JUGGERNAUT OF PESTILENCE”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jul 022018
 

 

Outside the circles of metal, when someone exclaims, “That was brutal!“, they’ve usually just witnessed something ugly, humiliating, violent, uncomfortable, or unpleasant. Inside the circles of metal, it’s a high compliment. Infuriate are fucking brutal. And, as you can see, so is the stunning cover art by the famed Jon Zig for this Texas band’s self-titled debut album.

Infuriate will be released by the crushing Everlasting Spew Records on August 31st, but you’ll get a strong taste of it today because we’re bringing you a massive slab of slaughtering from the album named “Juggernaut of Pestilence“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IMHA TARIKAT — “AKAN SIR”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 012018
 

 

The black metal band Imha Tarikat, based in Germany, vaulted onto our radar screens last year with a debut EP named Kenoboros (reviewed here). Released by Terratur Possessions, it was a four-song collection of unusual emotional power and unmistakably authentic passion. Since then, Imha Tarikat’s sole creator Ruhsuz Cellât has been joined on drums by a second member who goes by the name Prowler, and together they’ve recorded a debut album, Kara Ihlas.

The music of Kenoboros would have been reason enough to become excited about what this full-length might hold in store, but the album’s fantastic cover art by Cold Poison is exciting all by itself, and it also seems to be an entirely fitting visual representation of both the sound of the music and its inspirations — at least so far as we can tell based on the album track we’re presenting today, the name of which is “Akan Sir“. Continue reading »

REAPER METAL PRODUCTIONS: ANNOUNCEMENTS, FREE MUSIC, A CONTEST, AND THE DEBUT EP OF WÖLFBLOOD

 Free Shit, Metal News, Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 292018
 

 

As the title of this post suggests, we have a lot to cover, and a lot of good opportunities to spread before you. In the jargon of the monied overlords who attempt to run our lives, let’s begin with an “executive summary” for all you executive headbangers out there, and then flesh things out:

We are providing details concerning a new venture under the name Reaper Metal Productions, as well as a new collaboration between the label of the same name and both Redefining Darkness Records and Seeing Red Records, all of whom have already joined forces to release an outstanding album this year by the Russian band Cist. We are revealing the opportunity for consumers of heavy music to download the entire back catalogue of Reaper Metal (including the Cist EP) at Bandcamp for free, or any price you name — for the next week only. We’re presenting an interview of drummer extraordinaire Dirk Verbeuren that includes a contest for a special give-away. And we’re including some teasers about forthcoming releases by this new collaborative venture, including a trailer for the debut EP by the Danish motorpunk rockers Wölfblood, which is also now being offered as a name-your-price download.

And now, to elaborate… Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ARCHGOAT — “MESSIAH OF PIGS”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 292018
 

 

In a musical landscape overgrown with black metal bands and sprouting new ones every week, Archgoat has remained distinctive. For those of us who have become devoted to the genre and have spent time becoming familiar with how the music began and how it has evolved over the many passing years, the name Archgoat brings to mind such adjectives as “primitive”, “hellish”, “intimidating”, “violent”, and perhaps above all else, “uncompromising”. Others have followed in their cloven-hooved footsteps, but although often imitated, it’s fair to say that in the particular way they’ve chosen to create blasphemous black metal, they haven’t been equaled.

Last September, Debemur Morti Productions released a two-song Archgoat 7″ EP amed Eternal Damnation Of Christ (which is available on Bandcamp here), created entirely by Ritual Butcherer, which powerfully presented differing manifestations of chilling cruelty and delirium. It was described as a prelude to a new full-length coming in 2018, the band’s first since 2015’s The Apocalyptic Triumphator, and now we have concrete details about that new album — the name of which is The Luciferian Crown — as well as a song from the new album that we’re helping premiere today through a lyric video: “Messiah of Pigs“. Continue reading »

AN NCS DOUBLE PREMIERE: HUMANITY DELETE (“FANGS OF THE WULF”) AND CARNAL GARDEN (“LETHAL ONSLAUGHT”)

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Jun 272018
 

 

On July 20th the underground Mexican label Iron Blood & Death Corp. will release a new split featuring four songs each by two world-beating death-metal slaughterers, Sweden’s Humanity Delete and Carnal Garden from Greece, and today we present the premiere of one track from the split by each band — along with a few words of introduction, taking them one at a time.

HUMANITY DELETE

The opportunity to highlight a new release by any of Rogga Johansson’s many projects is always a sadistic joy for us, and today’s premiere is no exception. This particular project first began to coalesce in about 2003 when Humanity Delete recorded a demo (which was never released), but didn’t spring forth into the public’s consciousness until 2012, when the Never Ending Nightmares full-length made its debut. Four years later Humanity Delete discharged a second middle finger of an album, Fuck Forever Off. And now we have four new songs, with Humanity Delete’s side of this split entitled Anthems of Doom. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KOSMOGYR — “VISION” (MIIIA BREAKS REMIX)

 Off Topic, Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 262018
 

 

We’re going well off our usual beaten paths with this premiere, and onto a kind of parallel path, running alongside in a different musical dimension. For this writer, it provided the opportunity for exploration and discovery. Merely curious at first, I found myself more than tantalized by the end and therefore concluded this would be worth sharing with you as well.

This side trip begins with Kosmogyr, a contemporary black metal band consisting of two people divided between Shanghai and Prague. Their marvelous debut album Eviternity was released earlier this year, and we had the pleasure of premiering its title track. But Kosmogyr have now launched that album into a different musical world, collaborating with nine producers around the world to present Eviternally: The Remixes, which will be released on July 13th. And that’s what Eviternally consists of — remixes of the original songs by other artists who’ve give the music very different shapes. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IMPERCEPTUM — “LIGHTDEVOURER”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 262018
 

 

So far, the German band Imperceptum has released two EPs and three albums. I’ve reviewed all of them excerpt the first EP. At the risk of oversimplifying the experience of these releases, its creator (who calls himself Void) combines elements of atmospheric black metal, funeral doom, ambient music, and post-metal to create long, void-faring journeys that are both terrifying and beautiful.

To borrow from what I’ve written elsewhere, the richly textured music moves from immense hurricanes of cataclysmic fury to slower, earth-shattering, and crushingly bleak expositions of doom, to illuminating drifts through astral planes or across the yawning maw of deep space. Sweeping and soaring movements of vast and alien grandeur are juxtaposed against harrowing, blood-freezing storms of shock and awe. All of the releases are immersive; the songs are long, but for this listener the minutes seem to pass without any consciousness that time is passing.

And so I’m very happy to report that Imperceptum will be releasing a new album at the end of June or early July. Entitled Heart of Darkness, it will consist of four tracks and about an hour of music, and today we present the second of those tracks, “Lightdevourer“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BOOKAKEE — “IGNOMINIES”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  7 Responses »
Jun 252018
 

 

I try to be as honest as I can be in writing about music at our putrid site, but in the case of the Canadian progressive/technical death metal band Bookakee, I need to be brutally honest: Knowing very little about their previous musical output before listening to the group’s new album, Ignominies, I was initially quite skeptical. Maybe “put off” would be even more accurate.

The band’s name, coupled with their outlandish full-body make-up, their reported use of gory props on stage, and the PR brandishing of the band as “Montreal’s answer to GWAR“, made me suspicious. Rightly or wrongly, I glumly surmised that the music wouldn’t be worth taking seriously — that no matter how much fun their live shows might be, this would be a band who relied more on gimmickry than song-writing or performance skill. (The fact that I’m not a huge GWAR fan undoubtedly played a role.)

Having listened to Ignomonies despite all my misgivings, I am here to confess, with some embarrassment but without reservation, that I couldn’t have been more wrong. And if you happen to be approaching the album with a similar judgmental skepticism, hear me out — and then by all means hear this album through the full stream we’re premiering today in advance of its release by Transcending Records on June 29th. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): OLTRETOMBA — “L’OUVERTURE DES FOSSES”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 252018
 

 

The allure of Oltretomba’s new album L’Ouverture Des Fosses is difficult to explain, and to be honest, its twisted mechanics may prove to be most alluring to those whose minds are already unbalanced. Or perhaps I should just speak for myself. “Nihilistic black doom, languishing eternally in the psychic realms of the half-dead” is the way Caligari Records describes the music. It is an unsettling combination of primitive and futuristic (or alien) ingredients — uncomfortable music that nevertheless mesmerizes, like a strong audio narcotic that grips the pulse, clouds the brain with nightmarish visions, and brings a sheen of cold sweat to the surface of the skin.

We’re told that the album was recorded in a World War II bunker, presumably one still haunted by the spirits of those who were mangled and burned within its confines. Perhaps the music was intended to bring them back to life; perhaps they participated in the recording; it wouldn’t be surprising if they had, given the chilling, spectral emanations captured within these six tracks. Continue reading »

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