AN NCS PREMIERE: DYNFARI — “SORGAREFNI SEGI EG ÞÉR”

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Mar 132017
 

 

In the years that have passed since the Icelandic band Dynfari released their debut album in 2011, Icelandic black metal has soared to global prominence. Since then Dynfari have expanded from a duo to a full band and have released two more albums, and now a fourth full-length entitled The Four Doors of the Mind is set for release on April 14th by Code666. It will further burnish the reputation of the band’s homeland as a source of compelling black metal.

What we have for you today is a single from the album named “Sorgarefni segi eg þér“, as well as insights about the album from Jóhann Örn, the band’s singer and one of its guitarists. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: VERMIN LORD — “VISIONS OF A CURSED WARLOCK”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 132017
 

 

This marks the third time I’ve written abut the music of Seattle’s Vermin Lord. The first time was a review of the project’s excellent 2016 album Anguish, and then I praised a new single that was released in January of this year, and now I’m happily premiering a new two-song EP: Visions Of A Cursed Warlock.

The two songs tell a story, which Vermin Lord’s sole creator explains as follows: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DISHARMONY — “THE ABYSS NOIR”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  2 Responses »
Mar 122017
 

 

Here we are again, watering down the absolutist proclamation in our site’s name. Hell is clearly freezing over. Is nothing sacred any more? What has happened?

Yes, we are about to premiere an Exception to our Rule — a well-earned one that can’t be denied. What has happened is that the Greek band Disharmony have overcome your humble editor’s prejudices against clean singing in metal. How have they done this? Allow me to explain. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LANTERN — “LUCID ENDLESSNESS”

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Mar 102017
 

 

On March 17th, Dark Descent Records will release the second album of the Finnish death metal band Lantern, which bears the name II: Morphosis. The album can be understood as a reflection on the processes of dying and death and what may lie beyond the extinction of mortal life, an attempt to divine and manifest the chilling chaos of unseen terrors, a channeling of visions from eldritch spheres, an exhibition of dark perceptions and even darker imaginings about the transformation of life through death into something inherently mysterious.

The striking cover art Zbigniew M. Bielak is itself a collage of the album’s song titles and lyrical themes, with its centerpiece an image of a human cocoon parting, and a form leaving the clutch of rot and decay and rising up toward a domelike spire. And in that image, the cover makes a connection with the album’s epic final track, “Lucid Endlessness“, which happens to be this writer’s favorite track on the album — and the one we have the pleasure of premiering today. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LOST TO THE WAVES — “REMEMBER ME”

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Mar 092017
 

 

We’ve had a very big day of premieres at our site today, including more than a few big names in underground circles, but we have one more premiere. It comes from a Boston-area metal band, younger than other names scattered across our site today and more under-the-radar… at least so far… but one whose new single got its hooks in my head from the first listen, and revived some nostalgic feelings as well. And it comes in the form of a video written and directed by the band’s guitarist that makes its own forceful impact.

The name of the band is Lost To the Waves (formerly known as Elegy), and the song is “Remember Me“. It’s destined to appear on the group’s debut EP, Nightfall, which is scheduled for release on March 31.

These dudes look like a friendly, fun-loving group, don’t they? Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): FEN — “WINTER”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, Reviews  5 Responses »
Mar 092017
 

 

Examples can be found in the annals of metal and rock of unusually long albums that either seemed to be calculated displays of pretentiousness or were simply the result of laziness, with a lack of care and focus producing an experience destined to defeat its listeners through an attack of tedium. In the same ways, some books have been written that were so rambling, self-indulgent, and bloated that only students forced to read them in a class could claim the dubious distinction of reaching the end.

But some long works of music and literature earn the demands they place on our time; the length feels necessary, not only because the inspirations of the artists genuinely demanded it, but also because the pleasure of the experience for listeners and readers would have been materially diminished with anything less.

And that brings us to the music of Winter, the new album by FEN that it’s our pleasure to bring you today in advance of its March 10 release by Aural Music/Code666. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PIMEYDENTUOJA — “INTO THE CATACOMBS OF MISERY”

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Mar 092017
 

 

Not long ago I came across a single named “Invocations of Wrath and Fire” from Hellcrowned, which is the new second album by the Finnish band Pimeydentuoja. I promptly sang its praises in one of our Shades of Black features, and now I have the deviant pleasure of bringing you the premiere of another slaughtering song from that same album in advance of its March 31 release by the unholy triumvirate of Symbol of Domination Productions (Belarus), More Hate Productions (Russia), and Black Plague Records (USA). This new track is “Into the Catacombs of Misery“.

Since being struck down by that first advance track off of Hellcrowned I’ve learned that Pimeydentuoja first assembled back in 2009 and since then have released the Black Goat Psalm demo in 2012, a debut album named The Devil’s Epoch in 2015, and a single called “Sadist Ritual” last year. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MERRIMACK — “APOPHATIC WEAPONRY”

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Mar 092017
 

 

In a career that stretches back into the stygian mists of the mid-’90s, the French black metal band Merrimack have released four remarkable albums… though roughly five long years have passed since the last of those, 2012’s The Acausal Mass. But those of us who have been hungering for more of this band’s brand of fervent and unflinching underground terrorism will have that hunger sated early this summer: On June 9, 2017, Season of Mist will release the band’s fifth album, Omegaphilia. To help prepare the way for its advent, we are helping to premiere a song from the album named “Apophotic Weaponry“.

As the song’s name might suggest, “Apophotic Weaponry” is both physically assaulting and dreamlike, both murderous and mystical. It strikes with cyclonic abrasive power, yet seems to cut through limitations of space and time in search of something formless and timeless. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT — “THIS INHUMAN PLACE MAKES HUMAN MONSTERS”

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Mar 092017
 

 

(The half-witted editor of this site asked NCS scribe Andy Synn to introduce our premiere of the first single from the new album by one of our putrid site’s favorite bands, The Monolith Deathcult. Through a combination of bribery and intimidation, he agreed. And actually, this isn’t really the full song as it will appear on the album, but it’s enough.)

The Monolith Deathcult are a band who need no introduction.

So… that’s my work here done then, right?

Fine, if I have to write something more, I will do. But I am hereby registering my protest against this inhumane treatment. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: HENRY KANE — “DET VAR INTE DITT FEL”

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Mar 092017
 

 

You might recognize Henry Kane as the name of the soul-devouring supernatural antagonist in the Poltergeist film series. It’s also the name chosen by the veteran Swedish vocalist and musician Jonny Pettersson for a solo project in which he puts a unique spin on his beloved Swedish death metal. The debut album of Henry Kane is named Den Förstörda Människans Rike, and it was released last month by Transcending Obscurity Records. What we have for you today is a video that matches the horrors of the album’s namesake against the horrors of the music in the song “Der var inte ditt fel“.

Jonny Pettersson has contributed his ferocious voice and his musicianship to an ever-increasing number of projects, including such bands as Wombbath, Just Before Dawn, Vholdghast, Syn:drom, Ashcloud, and Skineater, but he really outdoes himself in Henry Kane. His voice alone in the song that’s the subject of this video is terrifying enough to raise the hackles on the back of your neck. Continue reading »

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