AN NCS PREMIERE: SLAGDUSTER — “MOTHER’S MILK”

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Mar 282017
 

 

I had forgotten about Slagduster. More than six years of absence will do that, even for a band whose debut album back in 2010 was as astonishingly good as Slagduster’s Nature. Humanity. Machine. But Slagduster have come roaring back, and have lost none of the instrumental flair and song-writing panache that made that debut so impressive — they’ve just gotten even better. Their new album is named Deadweight, and today we’re revealing one of the new songs, “Mother’s Milk“, in advance of its release on May 5th.

Slagduster like to say that they are “from the boonies of Grand Forks, BC where there’s nothing to do but play metal!” According to The Font of All Human Knowledge, Grand Forks has a population of 4,049 situated at at the confluence of the Kettle River and the Granby River, where piles of slag still remain from a copper mine that closed in 1935. And now you have an insight into the band’s name. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WHITE WARD — “STILLBORN KNOWLEDGE”

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Mar 282017
 

 

I have a hypothesis, not one supported by statistical evidence, only by anecdotal observation: All of us have attractions to specific styles of music that ring the chimes in our heads. We know what we like, we gravitate toward it. But we are also open to new sounds that may ring different chimes, in ways we couldn’t predict, and the most surprising revelations can turn out to be the most compelling and the most memorable.

The song we’re premiering here had that completely unexpected effect on me. It may have that effect on you, but I have no way of knowing that. It’s a musical dice roll, one that I hope will come up sevens for you, as it did for me. It’s the most unusual piece of music I’ve heard this year, and one of the most striking.

The name is “Stillborn Knowledge“, by the Ukrainian band White Ward. The song is extracted from the band’s debut album Futility Report, which will be released by Debemur Morti Productions on May 12th. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KNIVES — “PIGS”

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Mar 272017
 

 

Seventeen months ago I discovered the band Knives from Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. At that point there were three songs available for streaming from an album released later that year named The Blackest Noose, and I devoted some words of praise to them here at our site. Now I’m happy to report that Knives will be releasing a new EP next month year entitled Superiorem Status Spiritualitatis, and today we’re helping premiere a video for a song from the EP — “Pigs“.

“Pigs” is a bone-breaker and a soul-shaker, a death-and-roll juggernaut that melds the deep, concrete-cutting guitar tone of ancient Scandinavian death metal and the raw, jugular ripping fury and punishing rhythms of crust. It’s a track that’s bleak, black, and poisonous but also one that gets the head (and the rest of the body) moving. It may make also you want to smash things around you into small fragments. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VALGRIND — “NEW BORN DECEIT”

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Mar 272017
 

 

“It’s so very satisfying to come across a piece of metal extremity that succeeds on multiple levels, one that’s deeply (and ominously) atmospheric and yet also vigorously bends your neck to its will”. That’s what we wrote about “Ekphora’s Day“, a song that we premiered last month from Seal of Phobos, the new EP by the Italian death metal band Valgrind. And those same words hold true for the song from Seal of Phobos we’re bringing you today: “New Born Deceit“.

This new song is a remarkable mix of gut-churning physicality and off-planet exotic allure. It’s brutal and heartless, full of predatory chords and the kind of ravenous voice that hungers for your liver, and it’s driven by demolishing drumwork. The music romps and rampages, but there’s another dimension to it as well, one that’s vertiginous and alien. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PALE KING — “OMINOUS HORRORS”

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Mar 272017
 

 

Some bands have skillfully chosen names for themselves that almost perfectly evoke the sensations and atmosphere of the music they make, and Pale King are among that number. You could have reached that conclusion from the title track to their new album, Monolith of the Malign, when that song debuted in February, and we have further proof of it today, as we bring you a stream of another song from the album that’s also very well-named: “Ominous Horrors“.

Pale King is a new band, but its members have decades of experience among them. The line-up consists of vocalist Jonny Pettersson (Wombbath, Ashcloud, Henry Kane), guitarist Håkan Stuvemark (Wombbath), drummer Jon Rudin (Ashcloud), and bassist Hannah Gill. All that experience shows, and shines, in the music of this album. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: SCORDATURA — “SELF-CREATED ABYSS”

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Mar 242017
 

 

Some death metal albums succeed in delivering a level of destructiveness so electrifying, so technically impressive, and so unrelenting in their explosiveness that they send adrenaline levels off the charts. Scordatura‘s new album is one of those. It’s the embodiment of a death lover’s thrill ride.

Self-Created Abyss is the name of this new piece of scorched-earth barbarity, and it will be released on March 24th (today!) by Gore House Productions. To make sure you don’t miss it, we’ve got a full stream of the album at the end of this verbiage. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MORBID FLESH — “HERETICS HAMMER”

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Mar 242017
 

 

We discovered the Spanish death metal band Morbid Flesh in 2014. During that year we had the pleasure of premiering a stream of their EP Embedded In the Ossuary, which was a stunningly accomplished infliction of death metal cruelty and pestilence in the old Swedish style. Morbid Flesh are now returning with their second album, Rites of the Mangled, which will be released by Unholy Prophecies on April 24. We have already vomited our enthusiasm for one track from the album (“Circle Cursed”), and now it’s our ghoulish pleasure to bring you a second one — “Heretics Hammer“.

“Circle Cursed” was perhaps less an example of classic Swe-death than a firestorm of disease and destruction, its riffs and pacing turning from rapacious savagery to festering decomposition, and back again. And you’ll get a good headbang going as the song romps and gallops. What then does “Heretics Hammer” hold in store for you? Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE SARCOPHAGUS — “DYMADIEL”

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Mar 242017
 

 

The monstrous cover art of the maestro Paolo Girardi is what first put Beyond This World’s Illusion on our radar screen, and the music from the album has kept it there, moving quickly in an upward trajectory. We’ve previously written about two songs from this new album by The Sarcophagus and now we can bring you the premiere of a third one, “Dymadiel“, in advance of the album’s April 4 release by Satanath Records and a consortium of other international labels.

The origins of The Sarcophagus can be traced to 1996 — their first demo was released in 1997 — making them one of Turkey’s earliest black metal bands. Their discography lists two releases by Osmose Productions that featured the participation of Shining’s Niklas Kvarforth, including the band’s debut album Towards The Eternal Chaos. Seven years have passed since that full-length debut, and Kvarforth’s role is now capably filled by vocalist Mørkbeast from the Russian black metal band Todestriebe. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AU-DESSUS — “XII: END OF CHAPTER”

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Mar 242017
 

 

It’s still soon, but not too soon, to forecast that the new album of the Lithuanian post-black metal band Au-Dessus will become one of this year’s best albums. The first two advance songs from the album are that good. The first one appeared earlier this month, and the second one is here for you to discover today.

The band’s first release was a self-titled EP (albeit a 30-minute EP) released in 2015. Its five tracks were labeled “I” through “V”. The new album is named End of Chapter, and the song titles pick up where the first release left off, beginning with “VI” and closing with “XII: End of Chapter“, which is the enormously powerful song we’re bringing you today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: COUTOUX — “SIX GILLS”

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Mar 242017
 

 

If you are a fan of dark and danceable EBM, you may know the name Coutoux. I know less about that genre than I did about the helicoprion, which was nothing at all before embarking on this premiere. But if you are familiar with Coutoux’s previous recordings, you should probably just put them out of your mind, because the song you’re about to hear and the album from which it comes are different beasts.

Coutoux is the solo project of Mathias Eugène Pierre Coutoux, originally from Saint Raphaël, France. His first metal album is Hellicoprion, and it will be released by by KILL ALL MUSIC on March 31. The song you’re about to hear is “Six Gills“. Continue reading »

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