AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CONFLUX COLLECTIVE — “TEMPORAL PERCEPTIONS” (LIVE GUITAR PLAYTHROUGH)

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Jul 262017
 

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a guitar playthrough video for a new song by the star-studded Canadian group Conflux Collective.)

Last year an interesting new death metal project from guitarist Chase Fraser (Continuum, Scour, ex-Son of Aurelius, ex-Decrepit Birth, ex-Animosity) was launched. Called Conflux Collective, the group consists of an array of the best death metal musicians in Canada, including bassist Derek Engemann (Cattle Decapitation, Scour).

The group’s three song EP from 2016, The Inception, which I put on my year-end list at NCS for good reason, featured a different well known Canadian death metal vocalist on each song, utilizing the talents of Cryptopsy vocalist Matt McGachy, Beneath The Massacre vocalist Elliot Desgagnés, and Coma Cluster Void, Akurion, and ex-Cryptopsy vocalist Mike Disalvo.

In addition, the release also featured the talents of highly skilled drummer Tommy McKinnon (Akurion,ex-Neuraxis) on all three songs, plus contributions from bassist Hugo Doyon-Karout (Equipoise, Beyond Creation, Brought By Pain) and ex-Aborted guitarist Eran Segal. To say the talent level on The Inception was stacked is an understatement. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: AZIZA — “COUNCIL OF STRAITJACKETS”

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Jul 262017
 

 

By their own account, Minneapolis-based Aziza play “Thunderpunk”, combining “sludge, hardcore, and heavy metal”. “We play buttrock for the thinking man’s metal head,” they say. I get where they’re coming from, but I also think they’re understating the exuberant inventiveness on display in their new EP, Council of Straitjackets, which is being released today — and which we’re premiering in this post.

No doubt, the music is heavy — it’s brawny and bruising, venomous and vicious — but it’s also brain-scrambling and occasionally hallucinatory. I had visions of a brutish thug performing a nimble, bounding floor routine at a gymnastics meet while clubbing the competition and then showing his appreciation for the judges by sinking his teeth into their jugulars. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NEKHRAH — “COSMIC APOSTASY”

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Jul 262017
 

 

On September 29th the death metal band Nekhrah from Cyprus will release their debut album Cosmic Apostasy, and today, on the eve of their performance at Power of the Night Festival, we bring you the premiere of the album’s vicious and virally infectious title track.

Nekhrah was previously known as Impalement. We’re told that their current name is an Anglicised version of the Greek word “Νέκρα”, which means “death” or “deadness” and/or “emptiness” in Greek.

Consistent with that name, we’re further told that the band embrace a nihilistic philosophy, “the belief that existence is meaningless and that there is no inherent meaning in anything we do, think or experience”. Similarly, the lyrics are devoted to “misanthropy, cataclysm, self-destruction and a desire of non-existence”. In the band’s words, “Humanity is but a herd of ritualistic apes that congregate to ceremonialise their own insignificance”.

While we have no reason to doubt any of that, the song we’re hosting today is explosively vibrant — undeniably dark, but a hugely compelling experience nonetheless. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: SEVENTH CIRCLE — “VOLUNTARY TORTURE”

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Jul 262017
 

 

Eons ago when I was in high school one of my best friends, and one of the gentlest souls I knew, got cross-wise with a guy from whom all gentleness had been purged. He hit my friend in the mouth with a brick. It shattered his front teeth and left him shrieking on the ground, his face a river of blood. It was the most violent thing I had witnessed up to that point in my life. That disturbing vision came back to me as I listened to Voluntary Torture.

This debut album by the Belgian band Seventh Circle consists of a dozen compact bouts of mauling mayhem and morbid misery. The cover art is a good match for the music, which comes at your throat with teeth spread wide, fury engaged, all hope purged.

The album will be released on vinyl by the Soaked In Torment label, who recommends it for fans of Nails, Trap Them, All Pigs Must Die, Integrity, Rotten Sound, and Full Of Hell. It combines blackened hardcore, brutal death/grind, and a relentlessly desolate outlook on life (displayed quite vividly through the song titles) to produce the audio equivalent of a brick to the teeth and an A-grade adrenaline spike right in the brainstem. You can (and should) listen to it through our premiere below. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NATTVERD — “VI VET GUD ER EN LØGNER”

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Jul 252017
 

 

Seemingly out of nowhere comes one of the best black metal albums of 2017, one that is simultaneously rooted in the decades-old traditions of cold Norwegian black metal and yet so vibrant and multifaceted, and so sure-handed in its songwriting and execution, that it breathes new life into the sounds. The achievement is all the more impressive because this is a debut album.

The album is Vi Vet gud Er En Løgner (We Know God Is A Liar) by the Norwegian band Nattverd. It will be released in September, and we’re fortunate to host a full stream of the music in this post. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE MINERVA CONDUCT — “METANOIA”

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Jul 242017
 

 

The Minerva Conduct combines the very impressive instrumental talents of three musicians who have helped put other Indian bands on the map of metal — composer/guitarist Prateek Rajagopal (Gutslit, Reptilian Death), lead guitarist Nishith Hegde (Demonic Resurrection, ex-Albatross), and bassist Ashwin Shriyan (ex-Demonic Resurrection, Reptilian Death). And to help give their multifaceted music the kind of jolting rhythmic drive that the compositions required, they’ve also enlisted the aid of drummer extraordinaire Navene Koperweis (ex-Animals As Leaders, Entheos).

The Minerva Conduct’s self-titled debut album will be released by Transcending Obscurity India on September 15th, and today we’ve got the premiere of an electrifying track called “Metanoia“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ESHTADUR — “BELONG TO NOWHERE”

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Jul 242017
 

 

The new song by the Colombian band Eshtadur that we’re premiering today is a case study in song-writing dynamics. It’s also an example of a band who are adept at creating melodic death metal that hasn’t been neutered and prettied-up for mass appeal; this isn’t a lapdog that will cuddle with you, it’s a wolf that wants your throat in its jaws.

“Belong To Nowhere” is one of ten tracks that will appear on Eshtadur’s new album Mother Gray, which is set for release on August 8 by Bleeding Music. We’re sharing it today in the form of an official video that mixes slow-motion footage of Eshtadur throwing themselves into a live performance with dramatic vistas of the natural world. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: SINMARA — “WITHIN THE WEAVES OF INFINITY”

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Jul 232017
 

 

Listeners who have closely followed Iceland’s burgeoning black metal scene over the last decade know that there has been considerable cross-pollinization among bands in the vanguard of that surging movement. Sinmara is perhaps the best example, with a line-up that includes members of such other groups as Svartidauði, Slidhr, Wormlust, and Almyrkvi. Their 2014 debut album Aphotic Womb (which we had the privilege of premiering) was a gripping display of what such a creative collaboration could produce. Since then, Sinmara have released only one other song, “Ivory Stone”, which appeared on their split with Misþyrming early this year (reviewed here). But Sinmara now return with a new EP, and once again we’re fortunate to host its premiere.

The new EP, consisting of three interconnected songs, is named Within the Weaves of Infinity. It will be released on August 24th by Terratur Possessions on vinyl and CD and by Oration on cassette tape. However, as of today it’s available digitally via Bandcamp. We have the full stream below, along with some impressions of the music and news of a forthcoming Sinmara tour. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RESURGENCE — “MACHINE”

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Jul 192017
 

 

Let’s tick off some of the good things that Vancouver’s Resurgence have going for them, shall we?

There’s the cover art by Tony Koehl for their forthcoming debut album Besieged, which catches the eye quite quickly and effectively. As you’ll see below, they’re also a photogenic bunch of lads — or at least they make you wonder what the hell was going on at that photo shoot. If appearances can be credited, they also look like the kind of dudes you’d like spending time with, as long as you’re comfortable around knives, cigars, and lots of beer.

What have I forgotten? Oh yeah! Their music… it’s a form of modern death metal that’s something like a cross between a fully tooled-up war machine and a blood-stained butcher delivering red meat to the mosh pit. You’ll get a lip-smacking taste of that through our premiere of a track aptly named “Machine“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CONCRETE AGE — “THE TOTEM OF THE GREAT SNAKE, PART 1”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Jul 192017
 

 

(This is TheMadIsraeli’s review of the new album by Concrete Age, along with our premiere of a full album stream.)

 

Technical thrash-style riffing? Check. Melodic death metal styled melodic approaches and emotive song-writing? Check. Eastern ethnic cultural instruments and influences? Check. Raw thrash/hardcore styled vocals that have a complete disregard for technique and are all passion? Check. Concrete Age encapsulate a lot of things I love in extreme metal.

If this were a different time, these guys would definitely be classified under the so-called “Neo-thrash” tag alongside Hatesphere or Carnal Forge or even Darkane. Their music is more technical melodic death metal, I guess, with a great deal of Eastern ethnic instrumental moments and melodic tendencies.

The Totem Of The Great Snake, Part 1 is an immensely powerful album and is also the best melodic death metal album of the year that I’ve heard by FAR so far. Big deal, considering the style’s been in a real slump the last couple of years. Continue reading »

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