AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ECHELON — “LEX TALIONIS”

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Jan 102017
 

 

The second album by the super-group Echelon, entitled The Brimstone Aggrandizement, has received its fair share of attention in the many year-end lists we’ve posted this season from sources around the globe. Jonny Pettersson (Wombbath, Ashcloud, Henry Kane, Ursinne) put it in his Top 12. Vonlughlio from the Dominican Republic included it in a Top 50 list with the comment that “Mr. Ingram on vocals is at the top of his game with this performance — the man can do no wrong.” And here, from the chilly environs of Seattle, I’ll soon be adding a track from the album to a list I’ve been dribbling out this month. And now we have another reminder of why this album was one of the best death metal detonations of 2016, as we bring you a video for the track “Lex Talionis“.

I may be bending the usage of the word “premiere” in this post, because the album has been out since last month and the track you’re about to hear has recently been added to the Bandcamp player for the album. And although the video is new, it’s not as elaborate as most videos you may see here. But to be honest, any excuse will do for me to trumpet the attractions of The Brimstone Aggrandizement. If you’ve somehow missed our previous writings about it, feast your eyes upon Echelon’s line-up: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FRIENDSHIP — “BOTTOMLESS PIT”

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Jan 102017
 

 

The Japanese band Friendship seem to have an ironic sense of humor. Their music isn’t friendly. In fact, it’s about as far from friendly as you could imagine. “Crippling” would be a better description, as you’re about to find out.

On February 27, Sentient Ruin Laboratories will release an album named Friendship I & II, which compiles the tracks from two EPs that were previously self-released by the band. What we have for you is one of those tracks, appropriately named “Bottomless Pit”, which vividly exemplifies the disparate ways in which Friendship both electrify and dismantle their listeners. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HELLCRAFT — “APOTHEOSIS OF WAR”

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Jan 102017
 

 

“Apotheosis” is one of those words that I would usually just skate by when I saw it, thinking I had a vague understanding of its meaning but never bothering to really learn the precise meaning. And then, after listening to the new Hellcraft album, Apotheosis of War, I had to find out exactly what the word meant. The dictionary defines it as “elevation to divine status”, and that made so much sense in the case of this album — because it’s undeniably and almost unrelentingly warlike, and it’s also divine.

Apotheosis of War is this Ukrainian death metal band’s third album and their first one since 2012. It will be released on January 13, and at the end of this post you’ll find our premiere of a full album stream. But first, I have to tell you more about how great this album is, because if I don’t, I might rupture some possibly significant internal organ. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: MAZE OF SOTHOTH — “SOUL DEMISE”

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Jan 092017
 

 

Today Maze Of Sothoth come blasting out of the north of Italy with the release of their debut album Soul Demise, and today we trigger the detonation with a premiere stream of all 10 songs.

We’ve already premiered one furious, utterly morbid track (“Seed of Hatred”) and followed that with a review of Soul Demise, in which our writer TheMadIsraeli praised the album as embracing “the most timeless of death metal’s elements combined with a refinement of its greatest decade”, challenging “modern death metal’s gratuitous excess” by defying its “excessive musical ornamentation”, and confounding expectations by upending “humanity’s innate need to find or maintain order”. It is, in his summation, “a powerful and vicious death metal record”. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VACIVUS — “NUCLEAR CHAOS”

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Jan 092017
 

 

I first paid attention to the UK black/death metal band Vacivus when discovering their 2015 EP Rite of Ascension, much as one might pay attention to a nuclear air burst overhead, just before the shockwave hits. We delivered the premiere of Rite of Ascension in all its terrible glory, and today we bring you the premiere of another Vacivus EP, this one a two-song detonation named Nuclear Chaos that will be released in March on 7″ vinyl by Goatprayer Records. It can be considered a prelude to the band’s next full-length album, which this time will be released by Profound Lore Records.

I frothed at the mouth over this band’s last EP, writing of Rite that “it’s not for the faint of heart, but I think it will hold a strong appeal to fans of savage, void-faring death metal that brings both killer riffs and a poisonous, otherworldly atmosphere.” I also ventured the guess that it marked “the stunning appearance of a band whose name we expect to see praised throughout the dark places in the underground where ancient death worship is the order of the day.” The Profound Lore signing could be seen as confirmation of that forecast. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TURIA — “WATERZUCHT”

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Jan 092017
 

 

The Dutch black metal band Turia made a powerful first impression with their debut album Dor in 2015. Much of the music (which was recorded live) could be characterized as propulsive atmospheric black metal, with teeth — barbed with melodic hooks and relying on sequences of repeating movements that drove the music into your head like railroad spikes. But the album revealed other dimensions as well, including slower and gloomier ones, all of them equally seductive.

The band’s second album, Dede Kondre, will be released on January 23 by Altare Productions (12″ vinyl) and Haeresis Noviomagi (cassette tape). Its title track was released near the end of last year, and today we have the pleasure of bringing you a second song, “Waterzucht“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GLOSON — “ANTLERS”

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Jan 052017
 

 

This is good timing. At our site we’ve recently started rolling out our list of 2016’s “Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs”. Our 2015 list included a song by Sweden’s Gloson from their striking 32-minute debut EP Yearwalker. And now we have a new song to premiere from their forthcoming debut album Grimen, which is one we’ve been eagerly awaiting. Don’t be surprised if you see this song next year at this time, on our 2017 list.

We’ve already had one powerful clue that the dynamic power of Yearwalker wasn’t the result of random luck and didn’t represent a plateau of what Gloson were capable of achieving. I’m referring to the song “Cringe“, which appeared last fall. This new song, “Antlers“, provides further proof that Gloson have continued to move upward, even though they started their climb at a very high place already. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LASTER — “ONS VRIJE FATUM”

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Jan 042017
 

 

It would be an understatement to say that the new album by the Dutch band Laster represents a large step ahead of their 2014 debut. It is more like a running leap ahead, doing somersaults and back-flips in the air before sticking the landing. That’s not intended to take anything away from De verste verte is hier, which was very good, but Ons vrije fatum is the kind of musical marvel that opens your eyes as wide as saucers.

This new album will be released on January 9 by Dunkelheit Produktionen, and today we bring you a full stream of its seven remarkable songs. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AU CHAMP DES MORTS — “DANS LA JOIE”

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Jan 042017
 

 

Last June the Debemur Morti label released a most impressive debut EP (Le Jour Se Lève) by the French band Au Champ Des Morts, which we had the pleasure of premiering. In those first songs, the band proved themselves to be powerful sonic spellcasters, with a talent for creating dynamic, richly textured music with a black metal core that hit with riveting emotional intensity. Debemur Morti is now following that EP with the release of the band’s debut album Dans La Joie later this month, and we have for you today a stream of its title track.

Au Champ Des Morts was founded in 2014 by guitarist/vocalist Stefan Bayle (Anorexia Nervosa) and he is joined on this album by bassist/vocalist Cecile G. and drummer Wilhelm. As you can see, the album also greatly benefits by the striking cover art of Dehn Sora. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SWAMPCULT — “CHAPTER III – AL-AZIF NECRONOMICON”

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Jan 032017
 

 

In August of last year we premiered a song from an album called The Festival by the Dutch duo SwampCult. The album was eventually released in October, and both before and after its release it earned substantial praise from metal writers scattered around the globe, excerpts of which appear in a long list at the album’s Bandcamp page. Today we have a reminder of the album for listeners who may not yet have explored it, and a terrifying companion to the music for those who already have: the premiere of a video for the same song we had the pleasure of premiering last August, “Chapter III – Al-Azif Necronomicon“.

For the newcomers, The Festival is based entirely on a story by H.P. Lovecraft that bears the same name, which was first published in the January 1925 issue of Weird Tales magazine. The album traces that story from start to finish, with each song representing a different chapter in the unfolding narrative. In addition, the album is accompanied by a special story card for each song. Here’s the one for “Al-Azif Necronomicon”: Continue reading »

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