Premieres Archives - Page 432 of 481

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: BLOODSTRIKE: “IN DEATH WE ROT”

Sep 242015

Almost exactly one year ago I discovered a two-song demo named Necrobirth by Colorado’s Bloodstrike that totally knocked me on my ass (as I said here). At that point, the word was that Bloodstrike was working on a debut album that they projected for release this year — and now, sure enough, it’s upon us.

The name of the album is In Death We Rot, and it is nothing but Grade A nourishment for the death-worshipping souls of people like me, and all other fans of early ’90s death metal who haven’t convinced themselves that the only albums worth listening to were released 20 years ago. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ONIRIK — “INVOCATION AND DEFIANCE”

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Sep 232015

We metalheads may be different in some important ways from the people who don’t share our passion for abrasive, aggressive music, but in some ways we’re not so different: In our listening, many of us find comfort in what is familiar, and sometimes instinctively shy away from bands who have stepped off the usual beaten paths. But sometimes when that happens, the results can be exciting, even if the music is different and challenging on first listen.

Casket Dream Veneration, the new album by the Portuguese band Onirik, maintains a spiritual devotion to the traditions of black metal, but the band are definitely following their own path, and the music is a rewarding experience in part because it does sound different from much of the music that now travels under the black flag.

Take, for example, the track from the album that we’re premiering today: “Invocation and Defiance”. Continue reading »

THY CATAFALQUE: A REVIEW OF “SGÚRR” AND THE PREMIERE OF “JURA”

Premieres, Reviews 11 Responses »

Sep 222015

We are very fortunate to help premiere a song named “Jura” from Sgùrr, the new album by the remarkable Thy Catafalque. The album has been one of my most-anticipated releases of 2015 — and my expectations were very, very high, given the quality of Thy Catafalque’s most recent albums, 2011’s Rengeteg and 2009’s Róka Hasa Rádió. Yet as lofty as those expectations were, Sgùrr has exceeded them.

I won’t blame you if you now jump to the end of this post and start listening to “Jura”, but there may still be reasons to read the review that precedes the song stream, because no one song on this album tells you what you need to know about the rest of it.

I hasten to add that I’m not sure I can tell you what you need to know either. When you encounter an album as varied and unusual as Sgùrr, the typical genre references and descriptive adjectives go out the window, and that leaves me feeling even more helpless than usual in trying to find the right words. Of course, as mentally hobbled as I am by these limitations, I’m soldiering on anyway. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: SHRINE OF INSANABILIS — “DISCIPLES OF THE VOID”

Premieres 9 Responses »

Sep 212015

About a month ago we brought you a clue to what lies within Disciples of the Void, the debut album by a mysterious entity known as Shrine of Insanabilis, with our premiere of a song from the album named “Ruina“. Now we are privileged to lift the veil all the way off as we deliver a full stream of the album in advance of its September 22 release by W.T.C. Productions.

Actually, that metaphor about lifting the veil is an overstatement, because the identities of the band’s members are still concealed, and the music itself remains mystical. But that’s only part of its allure. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MORD’A’STIGMATA — “OUR HEARTS SLOW DOWN”

Premieres, Reviews 6 Responses »

Sep 212015

The remarkable new EP by Poland’s Mord’A’Stigmata is named Our Hearts Slow Down. Although the title has meaning in the context of the music, your hearts will not slow down when you hear it. Unless you’re listening to the EP just as you’ve lost your brakes while bending through a hairpin curve on a mountain highway, we can assure you that you hearts will beat faster. You can tell us if we’re wrong — because at the end of these words you can listen to the EP from start to finish.

Black metal is at the core of this music, but whatever instinctive reactions you may have to that genre label, good or bad, put them aside. On this EP, you can tell that Mord’A’Stigmata had a vision that didn’t conform to established forms, and they bring into play a number of diverse musical styles to create a thoroughly narcotic and irresistibly powerful concoction. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND AN INTERVIEW): ABHORRENT DECIMATION — “MIASMIC MUTATION”

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Sep 212015

Last week in a “Best of British” article on our site, Andy Synn reviewed Miasmic Mutation, the new album soon to be released by Abhorrent Decimation — and now we’re bringing you the premiere of a full-album stream, along with an interview of the band.

While referencing the likes of such stellar bands as Hour of Penance, Decapitated, and Man Must Die, Andy further wrote:

“This isn’t an album that feels derivative. It feels fresh. It feels vital. It feels… alive. In fact, it’s one of the most shamelessly infectious and irresistibly head-bang-able Death Metal albums that I’ve heard this year.”

AN NCS PREMIERE: PERIHELION — “VÉG SE HOZZA EL”

Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres 3 Responses »

Sep 212015

One good thing sometimes leads to another good thing. About two weeks ago I was excited to discover a music video for a track from a forthcoming album (Zeng) by the Hungarian band Perihelion. I wrote about the song (“Égrengető”) here, and now we find ourselves in the happy position of being able to bring you the premiere of another song from the same album, a track named “Vég se hozza el” (Hungarian for “Even the end will not bring relief”).

While “Égrengető” has its heavy moments, particularly as it builds toward the climax, much of its magic lies in the ethereal guitar melody and the experience of listening to Gyula Vasvári send his voice arcing into the sky. “Vég se hozza el” combines similar ingredients, but in different proportions. It starts in a blaze, takes a breath, and then pours out its intensity and passion in a stream of gleaming black water. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: PROTOLITH — “DARK”

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Sep 202015

Almost five years have passed since Protolith released their debut album Light, and three years since their Sunsetter EP. But this Massachusetts-based band have now completed work on their second full-length, with a title that contrasts with the name of their debut: Dark. Today we’re happy to bring you a full streaming premiere of the new album in advance of its official release.

Dark represents a rare combination of genre-spanning musical styles, including sludge, doom, death, post-metal, and progressive metal. It’s evident that Protolith are adept at writing and performing in all of these fields, but what makes Dark such a fascinating achievement is the band’s success in blending them together so naturally within each song. Even with such marked contrasts in these musical styles, the music flows. The transitions feel organic, and at its best, Dark succeeds not just in transitioning between these different approaches but in uniting them. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: SOIJL — “ENDLESS ELYSIAN FIELDS”

Premieres 4 Responses »

Sep 182015

Soijl is the name of a project founded by Swedish multi-instrumentalist Mattias Svensson, whose past musical involvements have included the likes of Saturnus, Istapp, Vanmakt, and Nidrike. On Soijl’s debut album, Endless Elysian Fields, Svensson is joined by Henrik Kindvall of Skald (ex-Nidrike), who wrote the lyrics and provided the vocals. What the two of them have achieved is a powerful and moving work that’s enormously heavy, beautifully atmospheric, and emotionally devastating — and today we give you the chance to hear the entire album in advance of its September 21 release by Solitude Productions.

On the seven tracks included on the album, Svensson has crafted music that’s achingly anguished, each song built upon a bedrock of huge, moaning doom riffs from which tendrils of bereft guitar melody spiral upward like smoke from the dying embers of a funeral pyre. The songs are usually slow and majestic, spreading a heavy mantle of despair and heartache in their wake. Those calamitous bedrock riffs are dire enough to drag you bodily into a sinkhole of grief, but the lead guitar melodies are sublime, often ethereal, and even transcendent in their cold, alabaster purity. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ZILLAH — “THEREFORE I AM”

Premieres 1 Response »

Sep 182015

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a song from the new album by Scotland’s Zillah.)

We’ve been covering Zillah here at NCS since 2011 when Islander first shared their music with our readers and extolled their hard-to-categorize brand of death metal. Recently we were fortunate to premiere a song by them called “Made Flesh And Bone”, which will appear on their soon-to-be-released new album entitled Serpentine Halo. I was very surprised yet happy to see that as of this writing, “Made Flesh And Bone” has been played 1,986 times! Which to me says at least some of our readers must have enjoyed it. For those who liked that one, you’ll be equally pleased with the Zillah song we are premiering today: “Therefore I Am”.

While “Made Flesh And Bone” took its time building toward a blasting second-half conclusion, “Therefore I Am” is an adrenaline-fueled ride from start to finish. It’s a swirling maelstrom of venomous barks and chaotic, spidery riffing colliding with a deep bass low-end and an accomplished drum performance that drives the song forward into the demented void. Continue reading »

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