AN NCS PREMIERE: PISSED REGARDLESS — “TRUST NO PULSE”

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Jan 232018
 

 

The very name Pissed Regardless tells you some of what you need to know about this San Diego band, but there’s also more going on in their music than head-battering expressions of rampant rage and disgust, as you’ll find out when you let “Trust No Pulse” run roughshod through your cranium.

That’s the name of the song we’re helping the band premiere today. It comes from a new 7″ EP named Feed the Birds, which will be released by Oakland-based Creator-Destructor Records. It follows the band’s two full-length releases, 2013’s self-titled album and 2015’s Force Fed Gods. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CULTUS PROFANO — “UNDER THE INFERNAL REIGN, OP. 10”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jan 232018
 

 

Not for the first time, it occurs to me that there is a paradox in those musical strains of black metal that have their roots in the sinister, nocturnal emanations spawned in the ’90s. The new Los Angeles band Cultus Profano embraces those traditions with a fierce devotion, conjuring “a pure form of blasphemy that evokes hatred and darkness”, to quote Debemur Morti Productions, who will release this duo’s debut album Sacramentum Obscurus on February 23rd. And yet the song from the album that we’re helping to premiere today — “Under the Infernal Reign, Op. 10” — powerfully evokes other moods.

From the hate-filled scowls of their corpse-painted visages to the Satanic mysticism that inspired their song titles and lyrics, the band fuel their creations with loathing and abhorrence, seemingly guided by visions of fire and plague, and of the ascendency of evil and the triumph of sin. But the mood of the music, at least to these ears, is one of intense sorrow and desolating despair. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: UNTERVOID — “UNTERVOID”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jan 222018
 

 

Those of you who are familiar with our frequent premieres know that we always accompany the music with our own thoughts about what you will hear. There are times (though not often) when I think it might be a mistake to include a review, both because I fear my words will be pathetically inadequate and because even an adequate description might threaten to spoil a jaw-dropping surprise. This is one of those times.

The self-titled debut EP of Untervoid is in fact a cavalcade of surprises, an almost chaotic but ingenious conglomeration of stylistic ingredients that may in fact defy at least my own meager descriptive powers. And even in making the attempt to convey the sensations of sound and emotion, I might be reducing the impact of what you would experience by simply launching the player without further ado. But, for better, or more likely for worse, I’m forging on anyway. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ABYSSAL VACUUM — “MMXVII”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jan 222018
 

 

Abyssal Vacuum’s new EP reveals a distinctive musical vision and “voice”, the three songs offering a conception of atmospheric black metal that manages to be both mesmerizing and strikingly intense. It’s described by the label that’s releasing it as emanations from a deep and cavernous abyss, “like exploring the darkest caves of Earth”, but the experience it creates might also bring to mind the mysteries of the cosmos lurking in a hostile off-world void.

Abyssal Vacuum is the solo project of French creator Sebastien B. (of Dyslumn and Ominous Shrine), and the project’s first release, which was recorded around the end of 2017, is being made available this week, both digitally and on cassette tape, by the French label Solar Asceticists Productions. What we have for you today is the premiere stream of all three tracks that appear on the EP. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SLUMLORD — “PATIENTLY WAITING”

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Jan 192018
 

 

I don’t have any special insight into what Slumlord had in mind when they named their new album Preview of Hell, but I’ll make a guess that they were talking about life in the here and now. At a minimum, they sure bring the hell with their music.

Preview of Hell is set for release on March 7th, and today we have our own preview of their brand of metallic hardcore hell through the premiere of Slumlord’s video for a track named “Patiently Waiting“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LAST LEGION — “MUSPELHEIM”

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Jan 192018
 

 

Almost five years to the day after the release of their debut album, Edge of the World, the New York melodic death metal band Last Legion have returned with a new full-length, and in a word, it’s glorious. Although the album was officially released earlier this week, we’re bringing you the first full album stream today, preceded by a few more words of praise (okay, more than a few).

As signified by the new album’s title — Muspelheim — Last Legion have drawn on the timeless tales of Norse myth for the lyrical subject matter of their songs, and they’ve created music that matches the epic scale of their subject matter — music that’s explosively powerful, persistently adrenaline-inducing, and quite memorable. Without taking anything away from Last Legion’s own creativity, you may well conclude that you’ve found an American Amon Amarth, one that could hold their own, side-by-side, with that most obvious reference point. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DJINN AND MISKATONIC — “HARVEST OF KINGS”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 182018
 

 

We were introduced more than three years ago to the Indian doom band Djinn and Miskatonic through Comrade Aleks’ inclusion of them in one of his Doom Quizes. At that time, they had released a debut album, Forever in the Realm, and now they’re back with a second full-length, just released by Transcending Obscurity. Bearing the title Even Gods Must Die, it’s a six-track edifice of doom exceeding an hour in length. Three of the tracks have appeared in the lead-up to the release, and now we deliver the premiere of a fourth one: “Harvest of Kings“.

It’s difficult to imagine any fan of traditional doom not becoming enthralled by this long track, which casts a haunting spell that grows ever deeper as the minutes pass. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DISHARMONY — “VAIN MESSIAH”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 182018
 

 

In March of last year we brought you the premiere of the title track to The Abyss Noir, the latest album by the Greek metal band Disharmony. The album was released the following month by GrimmDistribution, and in its multifaceted musical textures it has drawn comparisons to the sounds of Nevermore, Sanctuary, Judas Priest, Iced Earth, and Anthrax. It also includes a hell of a good cover of Metallica’s “Disposable Heroes”.

What we’ve got for you today is a vivid reminder of the album, a video for one of its best tracks, “Vain Messiah“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WTCHDR — “THE GLASS HAS NEVER BEEN SO EMPTY”

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Jan 172018
 

 

For every great thing you think you have accomplished, a nagging voice in your head tells you it really doesn’t mean anything of lasting value. And for every failure, the list of which is much longer, your mind hammers another nail into the coffin that time is constructing for you. And on top of that, you look at the world around you and what you see only compounds the feeing that right now, and maybe for all your tomorrows, the glass has never been so empty.

We’ve all had days like that, some of us more than others. On days like that, pretending that everything is rosy offers no solace, because reality stares you in the face with unblinking eyes. You have to stare right back without flinching, and fight back too.

Those are some of the thoughts I had while listening to “The Glass Has Never Been So Empty“, an unflinching track we’re premiering from Failed Ambition, the new album by WTCHDR, and watching the video that accompanies it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KOSMOGYR — “EVITERNITY”

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Jan 162018
 

 

I first came across Kosmogyr last June when I was bowled over (and said so) by a song called “Quiescent“, which was the first offering from a promised debut album (it also appeared on several compilations — Crushing Intolerance Vol. 5 by Black Metal Alliance as well as We Are Shanghai Vol. 5). Now, the album has a name — Eviternity — and a concrete release date of March 9th. I’ve had the good fortune to listen to the album (which is fantastic), and it led me to do something I almost never do: I asked the band for the opportunity to premiere a song, and they agreed. What you will now hear is the new album’s title track.

By way of background, Kosmogyr is the name of a black metal band consisting of Shanghai native Xander Cheng (The Arcbane) and Ivan Belcic, formerly of Shanghai’s The Machinery of Other Skeletons and Death to Giants. Ivan now lives in Prague, but he and Xander collaborated by long-distance to record the album. And that collaboration has borne amazing fruit. Continue reading »

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