AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SAINT BARTHELEMY’S TEMPLE — “THE COLD MOUTH OF THE EARTH”

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Sep 272017
 

 

On the night of 23–24 August 1572 (the eve of the feast of Bartholomew the Apostle), the king of France ordered the killing of a group of French Protestants who had gathered in Paris to attend a royal wedding. The assassinations led to a wave of Catholic mob violence that spread throughout the city and into the countryside, resulting in the deaths of thousands.

The French extreme metal band Saint Barthelemy’s Temple have taken this paroxysm of violence and hatred as the inspiration for their name, and their new twenty-minute EP The Cold Mouth of the Earth will soon be released in October by Atavism Records. Today we bring you a full stream of its three powerful tracks — “De Potentia Saturni“, “To the Baneful Oblivion“, and “The Sword of the Victor“. Continue reading »

BLUT AUS NORD: A REVIEW OF “DEUS SALUTIS MEÆ” AND THE PREMIERE OF “APOSTASIS”

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Sep 272017
 

 

At the bottom of this post you’ll find the first public streaming of a song from Deus Salutis Meæ (“God of My Salvation”), the new album by Blut Aus Nord. It’s the album’s fifth track and its name is “Apostasis“. It’s a great song by a groundbreaking band, and I wouldn’t blame you in the least if you skipped down and began listening, whether you continue reading what follows or not.

But if you’re curious about why I chose this song, how it fits within the album, and what else the album holds in store — though not in that precise order — read on. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INSURRECTION — “DATA EXTRACTED … END TRANSMISSION”

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Sep 262017
 

 

Prologue… Fracture… Prototype… the names of the first three albums by the death metal band Insurrection from Gatineau, Québec. And now comes Extraction, the band’s fourth full-length campaign against the human race. What more can they possibly do to us? You’re about to find out.

Today we present “Data Extracted … End Transmission“. Aided by guest vocalist Bruno Bernier (of Obliveon), Insurrection sing of a sensory overload growing out of control, of networks gearing up to invade and enslave. They command: “All report for mental breakdown, sort and file the data to extract….” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DAEMUSINEM — “GOLGOTHA”

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Sep 262017
 

 

According to The Font of All Human Knowledge, Fra Dolcino was a 13th-century Italian priest and the leader of a reform movement that opposed the prevailing feudal system as well as the hierarchy of the Catholic church and sought to return it to ideals of humility and poverty, espousing human liberation and equality. In response to attacks by Catholic troops, he and his followers also became fierce guerilla fighters. In 1307 Fra Dolcino was captured and, without trial, tortured and burned at the stake by the Inquisition as a heretic.

His story has become the basis for the new concept album by the Italian death metal band Daemusinem, the name of which is Thy Ungodly Defiance. What we have for you today is a ferocious track from the album called “Golgotha“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TYAKRAH — “GEFRORNE TRÄNEN”

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Sep 262017
 

 

“Fierce” and “frigid” are by-words of Nordic black metal, and in their debut album Wintergedanken the German black metal duo Tyakrah have embraced the cold and unforgiving white-outs of winter in forested and craggy northern climes. But their music is also solemn, and also glorious — achieving the kind of reverent and soaring spirit that justifies that well-worn term “epic”.

Wintergedanken will be co-released by the Russian label Satanath Records and the U.S. label Slaughterhouse Records on October 21. It consists of four songs interspersed with three instrumental pieces that begin, end, and divide the album in the middle. Today we present the first track that appears after the opening instrumental, a song called “Gefrorne Tränen“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FIREBREATHER — “FIRE FORETOLD”

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Sep 252017
 

 

To be honest, I’d seize on just about any excuse to plaster Adam Burke’s stunning artwork for Firebreather’s self-titled debut album on our page again. It was his art that first drew me into the music of this Gothenburg trio, and their heavy-as-hell brand of sludge and doom kept me rooted in place as I listened to the album’s first single (“The Ice Lord“) early last month. Now I find myself in the fortunate position of bringing you the premiere of another track — “Fire Foretold” — in advance of the album’s October 13 release by Suicide Records.

You gotta love guitarist/vocalist Mattias Nööjd’s introduction of the song:

“‘Fire Foretold’ is straight-up a song about this warrior who grabs his big fucking sword and rides out into battle, slaying everything and anything in his path. The lyric, ‘The raging wolf’s head, hangs at my side / I took the red glow, I took the roar’? That’s how badass he is. This is the opening track and it’s setting the tone for the album, it’ll take you to dark and violent places.”

I ask you, who doesn’t love a song about a big fucking sword (and the sorcery of a raging wolf’s head)? I mean, other than the person on the receiving end of it? Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: GOLDEN BATS — “SUPERPLATEAU”

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Sep 252017
 

 

I’m a relative latecomer to the music of Golden Bats, a distinctive one-man mauling machine from the vicinity of Brisbane, Australia. The first release I heard was the Falling Sparrows EP that surfaced last spring. It made an impact, something like a grenade going off inside my skull. I’m now keeping a close watch on what Golden Bats is doing.

Today Golden Bats has revealed a new two-song EP named Superplateau, which I had the shivering pleasure of hearing in advance of the release, and I’m helping spread the word about it… because it’s very good. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ANNIHILATION — “UNIVERSAL DISMAL COLLAPSE”

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Sep 252017
 

 

Even if you’re not familiar with the previous releases of the Portuguese band Annihilation, you wouldn’t need to be clairvoyant to foresee that they are a death metal band and that their music is likely to be obliterating. Their name, after all, is Annihilation. And yes, ruthless brutality is indeed a key part of their sound. But that’s true of scores of death metal bands. What makes this one special?

I do think Annihilation stand out from the brutal death crowd with their new second album The Undivided Wholeness of All Things, and the qualities that make their music interesting as well as… annihilating… are powerfully demonstrated in the song we’re presenting through a lyric video in this post. Its name is “Universal Dismal Collapse“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PУИНЫ ВEЧHOCTИ (“RUINS OF ETERNITY”) — “ТAHK”

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Sep 242017
 

 

Руины вечности (whose name translates to “Ruins of Eternity“) look like a small army, one based in Krasnoyarsk in Siberian Russia. Their music is a fascinating cornucopia of sound that reflects the diverse contributions of all those members gazing at you from the photo above. As a demonstration of that, we present the premiere of a song named “Танк” from their forthcoming debut album Шёпот забытых холмов (“The Whispers of Forgotten Hills“).

The album represents the culmination of a decade-long journey which saw an original trio of musicians (bassist Zubarev Arseniy, guitarist Clindukhov Ivan, and drummer Terentyev Konstantin) expand their musical ambitions and draw additional creative people to their side, which resulted in further changes to the band’s evolving sound. That has resulted in a stylistic amalgamation that isn’t easy to sum up, but could be said to incorporate elements of doom, melodic death metal, and gothic metal, with the compositions displaying a certain avant-garde flair at the same time. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SACROSCUM — “SKIN CANVAS”

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Sep 222017
 

 

There’s nothing clean or pure about Sacroscum. Not their name, not their outlook on life, and definitely not their music. They revel in deviltry and filth. And even though they don’t know you, they’d probably be happy to read your obituary, as long as the cause were listed as alcohol poisoning.

Listening to the music won’t make you feel clean either. More likely, it will make you feel violated. But goddamn, it sure is a hell of a lot of vicious, desecrating fun. Take “Skin Canvas” as an example. Continue reading »

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