AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VOËMMR — “SOMBR MOEBRD”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Aug 102018
 

 

The Portuguese black metal underground is home to a connected group of musicians (who conceal their identities) known as the Aldebaran Circle. That circle includes such bands and projects as Ordem Satânica, Trono Além Morte (whose music we premiered here), a band named Occelensbrigg whose music I included in a round-up at the end of July (here), and a band named Espírito Aldebaran, whose 2017 demo I reviewed here.

But the member of the Aldebaran Circle I discovered first was Voëmmr. They (or he?) released a debut album, Nox Maledictvs, in the fall of 2017, and we presented its streaming premiere. Now we have the good fortune to announce and premiere a new Voëmmr demo named Sombr Moebrd in advance of its release on August 15th by Harvest of Death. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: REBEL WIZARD — “DRUNK ON THE WIZDOM OF UNICORN SEMEN”

 Premieres  7 Responses »
Aug 102018
 

 

It seems everyone these days is wearing a black hood, pulled down low so you can’t see the faces. Well, maybe not you (though with a face like yours, you should think about it). No, I’m talking about metal bands who want to add a sense of menace and mystery to their personas, in keeping with the menace and mystery of their music, or perhaps as a way of underscoring the message that “it’s not about us, it’s about the music — and if you didn’t notice, we don’t use names either.”

The Australian rebel wizard NKSV who has adopted the name Rebel Wizard doesn’t wear a hood. He obscures his face with the kind of hat Gandalf wore, pulled down low, brandishing a guitar instead of a wand. He’s also drunk on the wizdom of unicorn semen. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: P.H.O.B.O.S. — “SMOTHERED IN SCORIA”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 082018
 

 

The abstract cover art by Synckop for the new album by the French band P.H.O.B.O.S. is remarkably vibrant, yet enigmatic.  It could be seen as a pure abstraction, the colors and shapes evoking an emotional response that’s dependent at least in part on what the viewer brings to the experience. But when you listen to the music of P.H.O.B.O.S., you may see it in a different way. You may see in it the emergence of a terrible visage, an inhuman one streaked in blood.

“Smothered In Scoria” is the name of the song we’re presenting today, the one that closes this eight-track album, the name of which is Phlogiston Catharsis. It has the capacity to pin the listener in place like a moth affixed to a display, still wriggling. Visions of immense and implacable terror rise up through the music; the peril is palpable, the impact of the sound riveting but unnerving. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SONS OF ALPHA CENTAURI — “SOLAR STORM”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Aug 072018
 

 

It’s rare to find a video that suits a piece of music as well as Simon Risbridger‘s video for “Solar Storm” by the UK band Sons of Alpha Centauri. You listen to the song, and you can’t help but feel it’s telling a story, even without the narration of a vocalist. Your imagination will reflexively want to fill in the details in its own way, but the collaboration of the band with this director has produced a damned fine vision of their own, one that’s as much fun to see as the song is to hear.

As they say in the trade, it was a long wait for SOAC‘s new album, Continuum, which includes this song. It arrived on June 1st via H42 Records and Cobraside Records, a mere 10 1/2 years after the band’s self-titled debut album. There were a handful of splits in between, but nothing of the size and substance of this new record. Contrary to the proverb, good things don’t always come to those who wait, but they certainly did for us in this instance, and “Solar Storm” is a prime example of Continuum‘s rewards. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PSYKOPATH — “PRIMAL INSTINCT”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Aug 072018
 

 

Every genre of metal has its own distinctive hallmarks, the sounds you expect, the sensations you look for and maybe hunger for. Thrash is electrification. At its most exciting, at least for this writer, it’s even more than that — it’s thermonuclear incineration, the kind of full-throttle rush that not only lights up your bloodstream and triggers the reflex muscles in your neck but also sounds viciously unhinged. That kind of thrash doesn’t grow on trees, especially when it turns out to be addictive as well as ferocious. Psykopath have got that kind of stuff — the right stuff.

This young Norwegian band from Bergen have recorded a new three-track EP named Primal Instinct that’s explosive and contagious. In addition, it has impressive style and flair. The cover art by the great Kim Holm nails the feeling. We’re very happy to present the EP’s title track to whet your appetite in advance of its August 24 release by Loyal Blood Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ENDLESS DISEASE — “HAIL THE COMING END”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 062018
 

 

Destroy Your Fucking Life. Our Dawn Is the End. There Is No Hope. Supreme Misanthropic Darkness. And now Hail the Coming End.

Those are the titles of the releases so far by the Texas band Endless Disease, the last of which is out today. The titles alone, not to mention the band’s name, proclaim a world-view steeped in bleakness and boiling with disgust. If there is any hope here, it seems to be the hope that the pestilence of human existence will be extinguished sooner rather than later… and not one tear will be shed by this band when that day arrives. And therein lies a paradox about the music — because the music is electrifyingly alive, like a fight that will rage to the bitter end. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): STELLAR DESCENT — “THE FUTURE IS DARK” (AN EXCERPT)

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Aug 032018
 

 

Stellar Descent’s first three albums ranged in length from 48 minutes to two hours. Each of them was a single track. So is their fourth album, The Future Is Dark, a single track of 46 minutes, the very definition of “long-form black metal”. For some who haven’t encountered this duo’s music before, that might be an imposing barrier to entry. I’ll try to explain why the time shouldn’t be considered a barrier at, but a key factor in the album’s considerable appeal.

The reasons why all those uninterrupted minutes should be welcomed, at least by those with a certain turn of mind, are necessarily explanations that can’t be validated by a mere five-and-a-half minute excerpt, but that’s what we have for you now. It’s at least a strong opening statement, if not nearly the whole case. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SUBTYPE ZERO — “BECOME INSANE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 022018
 

 

Insanity has different root causes, durations, and effects. For example, there’s the chilling insanity that leads to serial killing, the mania that comes over some people who’ve just been cut off by some motherfucker swerving into their lane on the freeway, and the kind of madness that led to the invention of calculus. There’s also the quite invigorating temporary insanity produced by a blaze of metal capable of setting fire to a mosh pit. And that’s what we have for you here.

“Become Insane” could be a command (which in this case would be difficult to resist) or a description of what will happen to you if you listen to this song (predictably accurate if you’re a lover of punk-fueled thrash). Either way (or both), it’s a fitting title for this track by Ohio’s Subtype Zero, which comes off their debut album The Astral Awakening, which will be released on August 24th by Seeing Red Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MONGREL’S CROSS — “PSALTER OF THE ROYAL DRAGON COURT”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  4 Responses »
Aug 012018
 

 

The eye-catching cover art for Psalter of the Royal Dragon Court provides immediate clues to the music of Mongrel’s Cross, as captured in this, their second album. It’s ravaging and regal, sinister and searing, warlike and overflowing with a kind of mythic grandeur. It’s the sound of saga, with an aura of larger-than-life fantasy surrounding all of its movements. And it’s almost relentlessly explosive, blazing like a comet in the heavens, or like the fireballs erupting from that clash of titans on the cover.

And unless you think I’ve gotten too carried away, and gone too over-the-top in my reactions to this thoroughly over-the-top music, just listen for yourselves — which you’ll be able to do right now, as we premiere the entire album in advance of its release by Hells Headbangers on August 3rd. Continue reading »

AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE: WITCHGÖAT — “UMBRA REGIT”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 302018
 

 

We’re about to present the streaming premiere of a three-track demo that’s a rush of hellish electrification — with a surprising twist at the end.

Umbra Regit is the debut recording of the Salvadorian black/thrash band Witchgöat, and it will be released on July 31st by Morbid Skull Records. It combines the talents of veteran guitarist P. Scyther, drummer E. Driller, vocalist M. Miasma, and bassist C. Fog. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries