Premieres Archives - Page 397 of 481

AN NCS PREMIERE: ORPHALIS — “RESHAPING THE OMNIPRESENCE”

Aug 022016

In mid-June we had the pleasure of bringing you the premiere of a lyric video for a track called “Encased In A Higher Intellect” by the German band Orphalis from their second album The Birth of Infinity, which will be released by Amputated Vein Records later this month. Today we bring you a first listen for another song from the album, this one named “Reshaping the Omnipresence“.

For those of you who haven’t yet encountered Orphalis, they execute a particularly brutal form of technical death metal that’s both electrifying and bludgeoning. And those talents are on full display in this adrenaline-triggering new song. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: COMA CLUSTER VOID — “IRON EMPRESS”

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Aug 012016

(Austin Weber arranged, and now introduces, our premiere of a song from the debut album by the multinational band Coma Cluster Void.)

While 2016 has been an exceptionally good year for quality metal releases so far, there’s one album I’ve been anxiously awaiting above almost all else, Coma Cluster Void’s debut full-length, Mind Cemeteries. Some of you may be familiar with the group from when we premiered the album’s title track here at NCS last year. Others still may have noticed that our esteemed editor placed the album on a list of his most anticipated 2016 releases back in January at NCS. It seems things have come full circle, as we get to debut another song by the band! The one we are premiering today is a ferocious ode to chaos and bleakness entitled “Iron Empress”.

From what the band told me, the song title is a reference to the foreboding being that adorns the cover art of the album, the Iron Empress on the cover standing in as a metaphor for the album’s concept and themes. Coma Cluster Void members John Strieder and Mike DiSalvo explained a bit about this in the following statement: Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: VOIDS OF VOMIT — “RITVAL EXPIATION”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Jul 302016

There are only two songs on this new EP by the two-man Italian band Voids of Vomit. Only two songs… but they are so good that my only criticism of what V.o.V. have done is that they didn’t do enough. Why couldn’t they have made three songs? Or four? Or six?

I am speaking selfishly, of course. Suppressing my own selfishness, I should simply be grateful for these two tracks… and indeed I am. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have, because after another few paragraphs you will find our premiere of the two songs on Ritval Expiation. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DAEDALVS — “APOTHEOSIS”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 7 Responses »

Jul 282016

Daedalvs are a four-man death metal band from Charlotte, North Carolina, whose debut EP Apotheosis is being released today via Bandcamp, and we’re helping spread the word by providing a full stream of the EP, and a few thoughts about the music.

What Daedalvs dish out is a mammoth, monstrous, skull-fracturing beatdown, a rumbling, crushing avalanche of booming jackhammering bass, clobbering atonal riffs, and thundering drums, overlaid with an effusion of harsh roars and wild, acid-spraying shrieks. But while the music’s brute-force physical impact is certainly one of its main calling cards, it’s not the only one. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MÜTTERLEIN — “ORPHANS OF THE BLACK SUN (CHAPTER 1) — LESBIANS, WHORES AND WITCHES””

Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres 4 Responses »

Jul 282016

Those of us who hunger for darkness in music find sustenance in particular forms of extreme metal, made by people who sustain themselves by making it. But sometimes the essence of pain, frustration, anger, isolation, and the defiant desire to throw off the yokes that both engender such feelings and restrain their expression can be captured in other ways. And sometimes the summoning of that essence comes from unexpected sources.

Which brings us to Mütterlein — a band named for a song on a 1970 album by the German musician and actress Nico; a band whose principal creative force Marion Leclercq (of the cult French act Overmars) has named Nico, The Cure, and Breach as the three main pillars of her widely varying influences; a band for whom krautrock and Shannon Wright seem to be as beloved as Sabbath and Tragedy; a band who caught the ear of Phil at Debemur Morti Productions and Blut Aus Nord’s Vindsval, who together made Mütterlein’s debut album Orphans of the Black Sun the first release of their new collaborative label Sundust Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HANNES GROSSMANN — “HAIL SATAN”

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Jul 272016

Approximately one month ago my comrade DGR spilled a lot of words at our site about a very exciting piece of news — the rising presence on the horizon of a new solo album by the phenomenal Hannes Grossmann, and the release of the first advance track from the album. Today we’re delighted to bring you the premiere of a second song with an accompanying lyric video — “Hail Satan” (that’s the name of the song, as well as our reaction to it) — and a reminder about the crowdfunding campaign that’s necessary to put the entire album in our grasping hands.

For those who may only now be discovering Hannes Grossmann, he is a Nuremberg-based writer and producer who is probably best known as a drummer for such bands as Necrophagist, Obscura, Blotted Science, Alkaloid, and Hate Eternal. In addition to being an amazing musician, he was a principal songwriter for Obscura as well as a creative force in the remarkable Alkaloid, whose debut album The Malkuth Grimoire was one of 2015’s best.

Two years ago, he released his first solo album The Radial Covenant, which was also financed through a crowdfunding campaign, and this new one is named The Crypts of Sleep.
Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: USELESS — “THE ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE”

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Jul 252016

Perhaps more so than in other musical genres, nightmares have a strong association with extreme metal, as sources of inspiration and as experiences that artists have tried to represent or foment in their music. The song you’re about to hear, “The Ultimate Nightmare“, would leave little doubt about the wellspring of its own inspiration, even if it had a different title.

The song was created by a mysterious black metal trio who call themselves Useless, and it appears on their debut album Absence of Grace, which will be released by Third Eye Temple on September 2. The band’s members identify themselves only by initials, and I’m not even sure of the country in which they live (though if forced to guess, I would say Poland, which is Third Eye Temple’s home). But they do have a talent for pulling a listener’s mind out of its mundane surroundings and sending it off to a very dark and inhospitable place. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): A.M.S.G. — “HOSTIS UNIVERSI GENERIS”

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Jul 222016

It’s safe to say that black metal is reaching more listeners than ever before. It’s also safe to say that what people understand by the term “black metal” is more varied than it has ever been — to the point that it’s no longer a terribly useful genre term. It has morphed into a signpost that marks the entrance to a sprawling city with many diverse communities (whose inhabitants don’t always want to have anything to do with their neighbors). So when I say that Hostis Universi Generis is one of the best, most intense, and most powerful black metal albums of the year, that requires some further explanation — perhaps especially for people who couldn’t get into this band’s debut album.

The animating philosophies behind A.M.S.G.’s music don’t appear to have changed significantly since 2013’s Anti-Cosmic Tyranny. The band still worship death. They still view the cosmos in its current incarnation as a failed experiment and yearn for its end, including all life within it; the new album’s title translates roughly to “the enemy of all”. And as their name (Ad Majorem Satanae Gloriam) signifies, they still offer their devotion to the greater glory of Satan.

But although the band’s inspirations and objectives may have remained fundamentally the same, the music has changed in important ways. Hostis Universi Generis is not simply a step ahead; it’s more like a giant leap forward. Even for those listeners who recoiled at Anti-Cosmic Tyranny, it’s time to put those memories aside and explore this new album with fresh ears. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE (AND AN INTERVIEW): NIRNAETH — “NIHIL IN ME”

Interviews, Premieres 2 Responses »

Jul 222016

Earlier this month we reviewed an impressive new split by two experienced French bands from the black metal underground — Nirnaeth and Azziard. The split, which includes one exclusive song from each band, will be released on August 12 on 7″ vinyl by Kaotoxin Records — the first 7″ ever released by the label. Now we’re following that review with the premiere of a video for Nirnaeth’s powerful track, along with an interview of the band’s guitarist Mutill.

Nirnaeth, who took their name from the word for “Tears” in the elvish language of Sindarin from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, began their existence roughly 15 years ago. Prior to this split, they released two albums, Thrown Athwart the Darkness in 2006 and Splendour of the Abyss in 2009. Their contribution to the split is a track called “Nihil in Me”, and it was was recorded during the pre-production process for a forthcoming third album. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IN THE WOODS… — “BLUE OCEANS RISE (LIKE A WAR)”

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Jul 222016

Last month we had the pleasure of premiering a song called “Cult of Shining Stars” from the first new album by Norway’s In the Woods… in 17 years. Entitled Pure, the return of this groundbreaking band will be released by Debemur Morti Productions in September. Today we present another new song — “Blue Oceans Rise (Like A War)” — and this time the music comes in the form of a video.

For those who may have missed our previous premiere, I’ll repeat just a small part of this band’s story. The original members of the group first played together in a death metal band called Green Carnation, but transitioned to In the Woods… after the departure of main composer and guitarist Tchort in order to take his place in Emperor. After the release of Strange In Stereo in 1999 (which followed 1997’s remarkable Omnio), Tchort returned to Green Carnation, and In the Woods… came to an end, with some of the members rejoining Green Carnation and others moving on to other personal projects. Continue reading »

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