AN NCS PREMIERE: BLASPHEMER — “JESUS IS STRIPPED OF HIS GARMENTS”

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Jul 052017
 

 

Originally formed in 1998, the Italian brutal death metal band Blasphemer have released two albums so far — On the Inexistence of God in 2008, and 2016’s Ritual Theophagy, which we premiered and reviewed here last October. That last album left an especially deep mark, delivering a full-bore blaze from the beginning right up to the final track (which takes a different turn) — an utterly ferocious, unrelentingly savage, mercilessly brutal onslaught, and also an eye-popping, jaw-dropping exhibition of technical fireworks.

Since that album, Blasphemer’s line-up has undergone some change, with original guitarist and backing vocalist Simone Brigo (also a member of Beheaded) and bassist/vocalist Claudio “Clod The Ripper” De Rosa joined by guitarist and backing vocalist Nicolò Brambilla (Ekpyrosis) and drummer Davide Cazziol (Helion, Mortui Corpus). They’ve recorded a new promo single which is available today as a free download at Bandcamp, and we’re helping spread the word. The track’s name ie “Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PAGANIZER — “FORLORN DREAMS”

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Jul 042017
 

 

Rogga Johansson proclaims that Land of Weeping Souls “is the best Paganizer album, death fucking metal the way it is supposed to be done”. If you want to find a reliable authority on how death fucking metal is supposed to be done, you could hardly do better than Mr. Johansson, even making allowances for his partiality to Paganizer, which is the oldest and longest-running of the numerous groups to which he has devoted his talents over the last quarter-century.

Featuring ghastly cover art by Daniel “Devilish” Johnsson, Land of Weeping Souls is a 10-track monster, the tenth full-length in the discography of Paganizer. It will be released by Transcending Obscurity Records on the 5th of August, 2017. It is also a renewal of faith — faith that even in a genre with such an old, gory history, the life hasn’t gone out of death (metal), and faith that at least for some of the earliest practitioners of the art, the creative fires still haven’t burned out but are blazing higher than ever.

Half the songs on this new Paganizer album have already been revealed in various premieres leading up to the release date, and I’ve collected all of them below. But today we have a sixth fusillade to add to the barrage — a track named “Forlorn Dreams“, which turns out to be as infectious as it is obliterating. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLOOD OF THE PROPHETS — “MEGALITHIC”

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Jul 042017
 

 

(Our old friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth rejoins us after an extended absence, providing both an excellent song premiere and these words of introduction.)

Greetings and salutations, friends. I return from the forgotten depths to bring forth to you an exclusive listen to a new song by a band called Blood Of The Prophets.

There is, I would estimate, a better-than-average chance that you’ve never heard of this band, being that they have lain dormant for the greater part of seven years, but they are preparing for release their newest work, a concept album entitled The Stars Of The Sky Hid From Me. I will have a full investigation of said album at a date closer to its release, but for now we have a glimpse of that album in the form of “Megalithic“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: BEYOND GRACE — “SEEKERS”

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Jul 032017
 

 

On July 7, the British band Beyond Grace will release their new album, Seekers, and today we present a full stream of all the music.

As many of you know, the band’s vocalist and lyricist Andy Walmsley is also the longest-running writer at this site (other than myself), better known to our readers as Andy Synn. And as you also therefore know, he has a way with words, which he has put to good use in penning the lyrics to Seeker’s nine songs, drawing inspiration from the writings of such sci-fi luminaries as Kim Stanley-Robinson, Jeff Vandermeer (who also gave permission for excerpts from his novel Annihilation to be used in the song “Apoptosis”), Edgar Rice-Burroughs, and Jeff Noon, as well as the works of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. And while I could be accused of bias based on friendship, he sounds damned good expressing those lyrics too.

The music on Seekers is damned good, too, as you’re about to find out — and I say that, never having met any of the musicians who created these vibrant tracks. They are: Tim Yearsley (guitars), Andrew Workman (bass), and Ed Gorrod (drums). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CONTRARIAN — “TRANSCEND THE MUNDANE”

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Jul 032017
 

 

Contrarian’s 2015 debut album Polemic opened a lot of eyes across the breadth of metaldom, introducing listeners to this New York band’s remarkable technical skills and inventive, outside-the-box approach to song-writing. We had the pleasure of premiering the title track to Polemic, and today is like welcoming back an astonishingly impressive and eccentric old friend, because we again have a Contrarian premiere for you. This is a lyric video for a track called “Transcend the Mundane” from the band’s second album, To Perceive Is To Suffer, which Willowtip Records has scheduled for release on July 28.

As on the first album, Contrarian’s line-up again features guitarist Jim Tasikas and bassist Ed Paulsen (both also members of Delirium Endeavor), lead guitarist Brian Mason (Sulaco), and drummer extraordinaire George Kollias from Nile. On this new album, however, George Kollias also handles vocals. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EMULSIFIED — “CADAVERIC ABDOMINAL INFLATION”

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Jul 032017
 

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a single off the debut EP by Indiana’s Emulsified.)

The Indiana death metal scene has been on a roll lately, birthing multiple talented new acts, including ones we’ve covered here before such as Breeding Filth. Two of their members can now be found in a new project called Emulsified, whose debut single we’re premiering today. This new project leans even more heavily toward the endlessly brutal and bludgeoning side of death metal, yet with a fresh twist on it that’s their own thing.

The project started in 2016 and currently consists of two Breeding Filth members, Derick Harshbarger on guitar and vocals and Angel Gaeta on bass and vocals. Rounding out the line-up is drummer Kevin Baum, who also plays in Human Filleted.

Today we’re bringing you the exclusive premiere of the group’s debut song, a filthy and deranged ode to sonic savagery called “Cadaveric Abdominal Inflation”. Continue reading »

AFTERBIRTH FRIDAY! (PREMIERING “DRILLS AND NEEDLES”)

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Jun 302017
 

 

Here in the U.S. of A. we’re about to begin a long holiday weekend that rolls through Independence Day next Tuesday (except for the poor souls who have to work anyway), and what better way to launch all the shenanigans than with a big heaping helping of Afterbirth!

And to be clear, I mean the band Afterbirth — the New York-based death metal maulers whose ranks include members of Helmet, Artificial Brain, and Buckshot Facelift. Their debut album The Time Traveler’s Dilemma will be released by Unique Leader Records on July 28th, and we’re revealing a track from it today named “Drills and Needles“.

Don’t be misled by the fact that this is a debut album. Though this music is fresh Afterbirth, their first discharges occurred long ago. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: GRAVESLAVE — “SICK/NASTY”

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Jun 292017
 

 

You may not have noticed, but we had some nasty technical difficulties at our site today, thanks to an update from the company we pay to keep our server from becoming infected with malware (created by among the lowest forms of human life), said update disabling our ability to edit and publish new posts. I’m normally a calm, patient person. Today, for hours, I felt violently unhinged.

Ironically, the principal casuality of this bizarre takedown by our paid protector was a band whose music actually provides the kind of cathartic release that might have prevented me from trying to throttle the throats of the people who caused this mishap if they’d been within reach of my clutching fingers. Listening to Graveslave‘s album one more time tonight, I feel calmer. It is Sick/Nasty, and as you will discover, it is sick and nasty — but it holds other delights as well. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: LJOSAZABOJSTWA — “SYCHODŽAŃNIE”

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Jun 292017
 

 

Last June, late to the party, I discovered Staražytnaje licha, the debut demo of a Belarusian black/death band named Ljosazabojstwa (which means something like “murder of fate”). The demo was originally released by the band in digital form in December 2015 and was then reissued the following year on CD by Hellthrasher Productions (with a bonus track, the 9-minute opener “Struk u horła chrysta”). I concluded my review in this way: “This is a very, very strong debut with high re-play value that ought to get your head moving (along with the rest of your body).”

Now, Ljosazabojstwa have returned with a new EP (though it’s substantial for an EP, with a 32-minute run-time). This one is named Sychodžańnie, and it will be released tomorrow by the same Hellthrasher Productions that reissued the first one. Today we’re very happy to let you listen to all of it through our premiere of a full stream. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: CONTRA — “DENY EVERYTHING”

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Jun 282017
 

 

July 1st is the date set for the release of the debut album by Cleveland-based Contra. Entitled Deny Everything, it will come at you via Robustfellow Productions/Shifty Records. Today we’ve got a full stream of the album for you.

The very first half-minute of the album’s first track, “Human Buzzsaw”, tells you that the Contra crew know how to cook up thick, swampy, bluesy, physically compulsive riffs, and as the song proceeds you find that the band are equally adept at lacing their music with trippy soloing and draping it in a cloak of gloom. You’ll also experience the scraped-raw tirades of vocalist Larry Brent, which help to give the music a hard edge of incipient violence (and mental instability). Continue reading »

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