AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TYRANT — “THE EXISTENTIAL REVERSAL”

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Jun 142018
 

 

In the space of only three songs the Canadian quintet Tyrant provide a skull-cracking, blood-rushing, brain-twisting experience on their new EP, The Existential Reversal. Amalgamating aspects of melodic death metal, thrash, and groove, the band have created tracks that are physically arresting and exotic, both brutish and technically nimble, loaded with juicy riffs and solos, and fueled with furious energy. And to make the results even more impressive, the EP is a DIY production — and one that succeeds in delivering explosive sonic power.

The EP will be released tomorrow (June 15th), but we have a full stream of all three songs from the EP for you to enjoy today. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: RIPIS — “SHADOW DIES IN MORNING LIGHT”

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Jun 132018
 

 

We greeted this opportunity to reveal the artwork of Paolo Girardi with open arms, since we’re such slobbering fans of what he does, and the piece you’re now gazing at really is stunning. But when we learned that his creation was paired with music as good as the song you’re about to hear — and the performance of which you’ll see in a music video — it became an even more exciting occasion.

What we have for you today, in addition to that memorable painting, is a video for the title track to Shadow Dies In Morning Light, the forthcoming second album by the doom band RIPIS from Austin, Texas. The album will be independently released on June 22nd — and we’ll also reveal how you can get it on vinyl beginning today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LURK — “ELAN”

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Jun 132018
 

 

Adam Burke’s glorious artwork for Fringe, the new third album by the Finnish atmospheric sludge/doom band Lurk, preceded the revelation of music from the record, peaking curiosity about what sounds might follow. The first track made available for listening — “Reclaim” — swings and stomps, exuding a dismal and grisly atmosphere while getting the hooked claws of its sinister riffs and twisted leads ever deeper into your head as it moves. One further track has appeared (“Ostrakismos”), and today we bring you a third one in advance of the album’s August 5 release by Transcending Obscurity Records.

“Elan” is both deeply disturbing and hypnotic, slowly drawing the listener into an increasingly nightmarish descent, helpless to break away. The spell-casting begins slowly and seductively, but by the time the incantation has been completed, its black-hearted intent stands fully revealed. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NACHTLIEDER — “SONG OF NOVA”

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Jun 122018
 

 

Metal songs that prove to be absorbing and addictive at the same time are those which pull off the trick of creating a strong sense of atmosphere and mood while also triggering a physical response and implanting seeds of melody that flower quickly and sink their roots into the listener’s memory. But of course, it’s not really a “trick”, which seems like a superficial word to use for the substantive value of good song-writing and powerful performance, a suggestion of artifice rather than true magic. And there is indeed true dark magic in the song we’re about to present.

“Song of Nova” is the name of this track, and it’s the first glimpse of what Dagny Susanne has achieved in her guise as Nachtlieder on this project’s new album, Lynx, which will be released through Nigredo Records near the end of August. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GOAT DISCIPLE — “WOLFCULT DOMINATION”

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Jun 112018
 

 

In April when I came across the first two tracks released from Wolfcult Domination, the debut EP by Salt Lake City’s Goat Disciple, I wrote: “You will read that the band’s music is war metal, and it is indeed a rapacious hybrid of black and death metal worthy of a name like Goat Disciple — but it’s so much more multifaceted, and executed with so much more technical acumen and creative exuberance, than most offerings in that bloody field that the ‘war metal’ label seems inadequate. At a minimum, if these two songs are a reliable indicator of the EP as a whole, it should vault them into the upper echelons of the field. And I don’t say that lightly.”

It turns out that those first two songs — “Oreb Zaraq” and “Mammon” — were rock-solid indicators indeed. The EP as a whole is a stunningly strong debut, all four tracks abundantly proving that Goat Disciple’s talents go beyond a capacity to engage in breathtaking musical slaughter (though they’re certainly very good at that, too). And thus we’re very happy to present a full stream of the EP in advance of its June 15 release by Blood Harvest Records and Helter Skelter Productions. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABSOLVTION – “CONCRESCENCE OF THE OPPOSITE”

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Jun 102018
 

 

In May we presented the premiere of “The Lion’s Face”, one of four tracks on Gallow’s Destiny, the new EP by the French black/death metal band Absolvtion that will be released by Atavism Records on July 31st. Today we have another track from the EP for you, this one entitled “Concrescence of the Opposite“.

“The Lion’s Face” pulled the listener headlong into an alien nightmare, choking with the aroma of pestilence and dazzled by visions of shape-shifting archfiends. Both diabolically oppressive and irresistibly innervating, the song was an eye-opening herald to Absolvtion’s rising power within the globe-spanning realms of the black/death underground. The song you’re about to hear only further strengthens the appeal of the EP. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEATH PORTAL STUDIO SAMPLER 2018

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Jun 082018
 

 

Persistent followers of our putrid site will recognize the name Death Portal Studio, as we’ve written multiple times about music from this Colorado label’s releases, which range from black and death metal to ambient and noise. To help spread the word about Death Portal and to expose more listeners to the spectrum of sounds represented by its array of releases, today we’re presenting the premiere of a new Death Portal sampler, which is now available for digital download with a “name your own price” option.

The sampler, prepared with the assistance of Hidden Hand Extreme Music Marketing, consists of 11 diverse, globe-spanning tracks from Gôr Mörgûl, Satarial, Hak-ed Damm, Sar Isatum, Chaoscraft, Sarcophagus, Sereignos, Zardens, Thrymheym, Striborg, and Aetranok. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLOOD WORSHIP — “SHADOWS ETCHED IN STONE”

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Jun 082018
 

 

Death’s Omnipotence is an apt name for the first EP by the Swedish black metal band Blood Worship: The deep shadows of death loom over the music, and the Great Leveller also strikes with implacable savagery. It is the sound of souls scythed out of existence and of survivors driven to the brink of devastation by their anguish. The music gets heads moving as it lashes and thrashes with explosive energy, and it just as effectively puts a deep chill down the spine. It is, in short, a hell of a good debut.

Blood Worship is a new band, the brainchild of Stockholm-based Astrophobos guitarist Martin Andersson, who also plays bass and contributes backing vocals on the EP. He was aided in the recording by Astrophobos bandmate Micke Broman, who is the lead vocalist here, and by session drummer David Folchitto (Fleshgod Apocalypse, Gravestone).

One track from the EP — “Rites of the Inner Shrine” — previously premiered at DECIBEL, and today we present another in advance of the June 15th release date: It’s the EP’s closing track, “Shadows Etched In Stone“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AL ARD — “WHO WANTS TO LIVE FORGOTTEN”

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Jun 072018
 

 

The Italian band Al Ard, originally formed in Sicily but now spread between Turin and Pavia in the north, have devoted themselves to the merging of ingredients from three adrenaline-inducing musical genres to create the channel for the hate they have to spit. With black metal as their main matrix, Al Ard have interwoven drum-and-bass and noise, the goal of their alchemical endeavors being to create a genuine melding of the sounds rather than a sequential stitching-together of distinct movements or an obvious layering of them in parallel.

“Industrial black metal” might be the genre label that comes to mind most readily, but it doesn’t completely capture what Al Ard have achieved. They name among their influences such groups and projects as Dodheimsgard, Red Harvest, MZ412, Brighter Death Now, Aborym, and DiabolicuM. Their debut album is self-titled, and it will be released on June 22nd by Aural Music’s sub-label code666, and from that album we happily present a new song name “Who Wants To Live Forgotten“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ATAVISMA — “INVOCATION OF ARCHAIC DEITIES”

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Jun 062018
 

 

The song you’re about to hear, “Invocation of Archaic Deities“, is a stupendous death-doom monstrosity, and it’s also stupendously good — a multifaceted, richly dynamic, electrifying, hook-heavy, and otherworldly piece of musical nightmare.

The track comes from The Chthonic Rituals, the eagerly awaited debut album by the French quartet Atavisma, which follows a debut single in 2014, a four-song demo that same year, a split 7″ with Maur in 2015, and a two-song 7″ last year released by Blood Harvest. The album will be released by Memento Mori on July 23rd. Continue reading »

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