AN NCS PREMIERE: BOGHAUNTER — “CONSTELLATION VOWS”

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Apr 062018
 

 

When I first saw the name Boghaunter I made some guesses about the nature of the music crafted by this band from New Hampshire; some of you are probably doing the same thing right now. The name made me think of a dark, dense swampland, the chill air heavy with moisture and the aroma of decay, the features of the landscape obscured by shadows but also by mist, a place where lost spirits wail in the distance. And so I had some kind of slow, spectral doom in mind.

It turns out that wasn’t a bad guess, but as I discovered — and as you’re about to discover — it wasn’t a completely accurate one either.

On May 4th Seeing Red Records will release Boghaunter’s debut EP, Writhe. It consists of two substantial tracks, and today we’re presenting the premiere of the first of those:  “Constellation Vows“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: STRIBORG — “MYSTERIOUS SEMBLANCE OF SPECTRAL TREES” (REMASTERED)

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Apr 062018
 

 

Yesterday we spread the news that on April 21st of this year Satanath Records (Russia) and Death Portal Studio (U.S.) will release a new, remastered edition of Spiritual Catharsis, the 2004 album by the Tasmanian black metal/ambient project Striborg. But that’s not the only Striborg album that these labels are re-issuing.

On April 22nd, Satanath and Death Portal will also be releasing a special edition of Striborg’s Mysterious Semblance. That album was also first released in 2004, on tape by Total Holocaust Records, and a CD version with bonus tracks was presented the following year by Finsternis Productions. This new release has again been remastered and features new artwork, and today we’re premiering a song from it named “Mysterious Semblance Of Spectral Trees“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: STRIBORG — “SPIRITUAL CATHARSIS” (REMASTERED)

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Apr 052018
 

 

The prolific Tasmanian black metal / ambient project Striborg was founded by its sole creator Sin Nanna in 1993 under the name Kathaaria, with the name Striborg chosen in 1997. Over the course of this long career, Striborg has released two-dozen albums and other shorter releases, but the 2004 full-length Spiritual Catharsis (originally recorded on an analogue 4-track) seems to have acquired a special place in the hearts of Striborg fans. Originally released by Finsternis Productions, it was re-issued in 2007 by Displeased Records, and on April 21st of this year it will be re-issued again by Satanath Records (Russia) and Death Portal Studio (U.S.).

For this new edition, the music was remastered by Digivision Records, and given new artwork by Ismaelta & Phaedra. Today we present the debut of the remastered version of the album’s title track, “Spiritual Catharsis“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NIGREDO — “TEN REPELLANT ANTIFORCES”

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Apr 052018
 

 

As I explained at our site about 10 days ago when I first encountered excerpts from the album that’s the source of the following premiere, “nigredo” (or “blackness”) was an alchemical practice that referred to the process of putrefaction or decomposition, a method of cleansing alchemical ingredients by cooking them to a uniform black matter. Because that word encompassed the process of death, putrefaction, or blackening, it also came to have symbolic or metaphorical usages in psychology and in certain spiritual studies as a necessary step in a new beginning.

Nigredo is also the name chosen by an Athenian black metal duo — vocalist, guitarist, and bassist A. (Ravencult) and drummer Maelstrom (Dephosphorus, Embrace of Thorns, ex-Ravencult) — whose debut album Flesh Torn – Spirit Pierced will be released on April 15 by Transcending Obscurity Records. As the band themselves explain: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WRATHRONE — “THRONE”

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Apr 042018
 

 

I’m not sure what first set in motion the trend in certain strains of death metal for bands to adorn their music (and their lyrics) with imagery of women being sexually violated, tortured, and brutally murdered, or when that started, or why. Undoubtedly, metal historians have investigated… but I haven’t.

The Wrathrone video you’re about to see is in line with that trend… up to a point… and then it ends in a way you wouldn’t see coming (except now you’ve been alerted), because this particular victim returns from a watery grave to mete out vengeance.

It appears from the video that death doesn’t succeed in claiming Wrathrone either, given their own gore-splattered appearance as they hammer out the delicious piece of death-metal mauling and romping that provides the soundtrack to the short film.

The song is “Throne“, and it appears on the band’s new album, Reflections of Torment, which will be released (CD and digitally) on April 23rd by Satanth Records (Russia) and The Void Records (Italy), with vinyl and tape editions projected for release in September by Cimmerian Shade Recordings. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MICAWBER — “IN SHADOW AND LIGHT”

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Apr 042018
 

 

Micawber have already made quite a name for themselves over the last decade despite the challenges of self-releasing their recordings. They’ve produced two albums and three EPs, to growing enthusiasm among fans and critics, and have participated in 25 tours across North America and Europe, supporting such bands as Sepultura, Vader, Vital Remains, and Internal Bleeding, as well as appearing at numerous metal festivals. But with their new third album, Beyond the Reach of Flame, it could hardly be clearer that the band’s ambitions are still soaring.

Among other things, this new one will be released by Prosthetic Records, who know a good thing when they hear it. For another thing, Prosthetic and Micawber turned to the great Dan Seagrave for the cover art, and the record was mastered by Ryan Williams (Black Dahlia Murder). But even more importantly, the band have also stretched their creative wings on the new album, incorporating a broader range of metal genre elements into their core death metal sound and upping their game both in songwriting and in performance.

We hasten to add that this is not empty PR talk. It is backed up by what you will hear today, as we present the debut of an electrifying track from the new album named “In Shadow and Light“. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): FOSA — “DEMO MMXVI”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  6 Responses »
Apr 032018
 

 

This isn’t a premiere in the usual sense of the word, or the usual way in which we use it. The recording is a 2016 demo, first released digitally, and even the tape release that’s the occasion for this feature is a couple of months old. But I’m calling it a premiere anyway because the odds are that this is the first time most of you will be hearing the music. I can promise you that you won’t soon forget it.

Demo MMXVI is the first release by a Chilean band named Fosa, and it’s also the first release by a new Santiago-based label and distro named Unpleasant Records (a name that you’ll see again quite soon here, because we’re also hosting a stream of the label’s second release.)

There’s no satisfying short-hand genre phrase for Fosa’s music on this demo. Crust and black metal are probably the dominant ingredients, but there are others, including sludge, harsh noise, and regular doses of lysergic acid. The end result is an experience that’s incredibly intense and undeniably traumatic. The sounds are primally powerful, titanically heavy, and murderous in their attempts to fracture the listener’s sanity. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VALGRIND — “VICTORIOUS”

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Apr 032018
 

 

Last year we had the fiendish pleasure of premiering two tracks off the Seal of Phobos EP by the Italian death metal band Valgrind. That was a remarkably multifaceted EP that succeeded on multiple levels, but it still may not be adequate preparation for what the band have accomplished on their new third album, Blackest Horizon, which will be released by Everlasting Spew Records on May 25th. But the song we’re presenting today provides a better sign — one that blazes like some widescreen neon billboard flashing with a thousand colors.

This new song is named “Victorious“, and it is indeed victorious — a kaleidoscopic aural experience that’s hallucinatory, heart-pounding, mind-bending, savage, and exuberant to the point of madness. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UTBURD — “THE HORROR UNTOLD”

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Apr 032018
 

 

Utburd is the alter ego of Vitaly “Tuor” Goryunov from the city of Olenegorsk in the Murmansk region of Russia. For his second album under the Utburd name (and the third release overall), Tuor has turned his imagination to visions of Lovecraftian horror and employed the techniques of atmospheric black metal to spur the imaginations of listeners. Featuring appropriately frightful cover art and booklet design by Paint-It-Black, the new hour-long album is named The Horrors Untold, and it will be released on the 15th of April by Satanath Records.

One song from the new album (“Death From Mount Tempest”) has been previously revealed, and today we present a second one, with a name similar to that of the album itself:  “The Horror Untold“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): INISANS — “TRANSITION”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Apr 022018
 

 

When many of us think about Swedish metal of death, what often comes to mind first is rotten, old-skull, chain-sawing morbidity, a mix of lurching ghoulishness and juggernaut plundering. Inisans are from Sweden, and they play death metal, but their music is a kind of incinerating lunacy, a form of shocking and electrifying violence that tends to leave listeners bludgeoned black and blue and gasping for air.

Those tendencies are rampantly on display in their debut album Transition, which will be released by Blood Harvest Records on April 6. But you won’t have to wait until the 6th to find out just how explosive the album is, because we have a full stream for you today. Continue reading »

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