AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: UNDER THE CHURCH — “WRETCHED DISFIGUREMENT”

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Oct 172017
 

 

I’ve been closely following the murderous machinations of Under the Church since they released their first demo in 2013 (reviewed here), at first because the band included two members of the legendary Swedish death metal band Nirvana 2002 (drummer/guitarist Erik Qvick and bassist Lars Henriksson) and then because the music turned out to be so consistently good.

Since that immediately attention-grabbing demo, the band have stayed busy, releasing a self-titled EP in 2014, an insanely good debut album in 2015 (Rabid Armageddon), a two-track single in 2016, and both a live album and a split with Revel In Flesh earlier this year. And now we’re on the brink of receiving a second album.

Entitled Supernatural Punishment, it will be released by Pulverised Records on November 10. We’ve had the fiendish pleasure of premiering other Under the Church tracks over the years, and now we’re fortunate to again help spread the word about another one — the name of which is “Wretched Disfigurement” — presented through a lyric video that makes good use of the album’s frightful cover art. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: V — “SOULS OF THE NEARLY DEPARTED”

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Oct 162017
 

 

An elegantly dressed old man sits at a table in a mansion perched on a craggy cliff above the ocean, writing out his last will and testament. Disease eats his body from the inside out. Black bile froths from this throat. He staggers outside to the cliff edge beneath a storm-wracked night sky. Arms wide, illuminated by the flash of lightning, he launches himself toward the wave-crashed rocks below. But death resists his embrace… or does it?

And that’s all I’ll tell you about the attention-riveting music video you’re about to see, a claymation-styled rendering of a tortured and nightmarish tale in which the border between what seems real and the horror of our worst fears is dissolved.

But I will tell you something more about the staggering, soul-shaking music that the video accompanies — a new song called “Souls of the Nearly Departed” from Pathogenesis, the first music in a decade from the Swedish band V. It will be released on November 8 by Suicide Records. Continue reading »

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AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: RETORTION TERROR AND INVIDIOSUS

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Oct 162017
 

 

(Austin Weber presents our premiere of a new split release by Retortion Terror and Invidiosus.)

We’ve got a special early stream of the new split release from grinders Retortion Terror and longtime NCS favorites Invidiosus for you today.

While the name Retortion Terror may not ring any bells, knowing that legendary grindcore guitarist Takafumi Matsubara (Gridlink, Mortalized) is the main person behind it should pique your interest.

For those who don’t know the story, in 2014, shortly after the critically lauded release of Gridlink’s Longhena, Takafumi suffered a crippling and tragic brain infection that made it seem like he would never be able to play guitar again. But his tireless spirit fought against all odds to come back, and his material here with Retortion Terror is his first musical creation to come out since his incredible recovery. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: COLDCELL — “TAINTED THOUGHTS”

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Oct 162017
 

 

“ColdCell is the musical manifest of the modern individual’s prison: The modern new world, the globalized, digital society, a virtual designed image. Humanity as a sick species without consciousness, arbitrarily exchanging its gods, its ethics, its principles, isolated within the anonymous masses. The only benchmark is mammon, the individual is lost within stimulus satiation and shallow-brained social networks.”

The bleakness of this Swiss band’s worldview is manifested again in the name they chose for themselves, reflecting both the idea of “a constructed, bred human cell, produced and used for industrial purposes: human being as a single wheel within the system”, and as “a metaphor for the isolation arrest of the individual, lost within the masses, needing no connections”.

And it is further reflected in the music, as you shall see. What we have for you now is a track called “Tainted Thoughts” from ColdCell’s new album, Those, which will be released on November 3 by Czar of Crickets. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BATRAKOS AND AISNA — A SPLIT RELEASE

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Oct 132017
 

 

Xenoglossy Productions is making its first appearance today at our site, and so a word of introduction is in order: Xenoglossy is an Italian label formed by a collective of underground musicians who specialize in black metal, noise, experimental, and extreme music. On October 20, the label will be releasing a split by two Italian bands who are also making their first appearance here — Batrakos and Aisna.

Batrakos is a trio consisting of Heliogabalus (vocals, noise), F. (guitars, programming, noise), and Stilgar (effects, noise). Their motto is “Ugly Music For Ugly People“. However, although everyone who visits our site is, by definition, beautiful in every way, their music is for you too. Maybe. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NEPHREN-KA — “LA GRANDE GUERRE DE L’EPICE”

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Oct 122017
 

 

Nephren-Ka, a group of French brutalizers with a welcome thematic devotion to the universe of Frank Herbert’s Dune, made a very impressive full-length debut with 2013’s The Fall of Omnius. Four years later, they are returning with a new opus named La Grande Guerre de L’Epice, which will be released on October 13 (tomorrow) by Dolorem Records. And although it’s predictable that people may wonder whether the band will fall prey to the dreaded sophomore slump, fans can rest easy. With this new album, Nephren-Ka have moved from strength to further strength.

The new album, which includes French lyrics for the first time on some of the tracks, is a concept record consisting of nine chronological phases based on the Houses prequel stories written by Frank Herbert’s son and deals “with the attempt to create synthetic Spice and the ensuing imperial war”. We previously hosted the premiere of a slaughtering track named “Watch and Learn“, but now we have a full stream of this breathtaking album on the eve of its release. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BLOODSTRIKE — “EXECUTION OF VIOLENCE”

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Oct 112017
 

 

When you listen to some albums, you get the undeniable feeling that the people in the band really — really — love what they’re doing, that they’re in the throes of a fierce enthusiasm for the kind of music they’re making. And when that kind of passion is communicated through the songwriting and the performances, it becomes highly infectious, like the raging fever of a disease. That’s the feeling I got when listening to Bloodstrike’s new album, Execution of Violence — which we’re streaming for you today in advance of its October 13 release by Redefining Darkness Records and Raw Skull Recordz.

In this band’s case, the principal subject of their explosive devotion is Swedish death metal of the old school, an homage to a pantheon that includes such names as Entombed, Grave, Unleashed, and Dismember — though there’s more than a little Bolt Thrower dedication in the music as well. “Explosive” and “infectious” really are the right words for it — or at least two of the right words. Other words include grisly, gruesome, supernatural, and macabre. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: NAZGHOR — “INFERNAL APHORISM”

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Oct 112017
 

 

The Swedish black metal band Nazghor continue their relentless march forward with their sixth album in less than five years. Their latest achievement, Infernal Aphorism, will be released on Friday the 13th of October by Non Serviam Records, and as we did when their last album was released in 2016, today we present a full stream of the new one.

As has become a pattern for Nazghor, established almost from the beginning, the new album is a 10-track, hour-long affair. In the face of such prolific creativity, it’s worth asking again the logical question: How good can the music be when it flows in such a torrent, with these very substantial albums appearing in such rapid succession?

Well, I’m pleased to report that the music of this new one, just as was true of 2016’s Death’s Withered Chant, is tremendously good — quite possibly the pinnacle of their achievements so far. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THROANE — “PLUS UNE MAIN A MORDRE”

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Oct 112017
 

 

Almost one month ago we assisted in presenting the first excerpt from Plus Une Main A Mordre (“No Hand Left To Bite”), the second album by Throane, which is the musical alter ego of French photographer, illustrator, designer Dehn Sora, whose visual creations have accompanied albums by the likes of Blut Aus Nord, Ulver, Deathspell Omega, and many others. The album will be released by Debemur Morti Productions on October 20, and today it’s our pleasure to reveal the title track, which ends the album in stunning fashion.

Dehn Sora composed the music on the album and created all of the sounds, with the exception of the staggeringly powerful drumming of Gregoire Quartier of Cortez and the spectrum of voices you will hear on the song we’re premiering today, for which credit is due to Throane’s guests Colin Van Eeckhout (Amenra), Sylvain (Incivil Tragedis), and French graphic designer Valnoir. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: KHANDRA — “ALL IS OF NO AVAIL”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Oct 102017
 

 

I have very little background information about Khandra. They are a new black metal band from Minsk in Belarus. Based on the photos included in this post, the line-up appears to consist of two men, although I don’t know their identities or what musical endeavors they might have pursued before forming this alliance. It is a classic case of the music having to speak for itself.

On October 11, Khandra will release their debut EP through Bandcamp. Its title suggests the emotional cast of the music — All Is Of No Avail. The names of the two songs convey the sense of a similarly gloomy mood: “Where Death Has Settled In Life” and “Presence Is No Longer Relevant“. But what of the music itself? Continue reading »

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