AN NCS PREMIERE: ÆVANGELIST — “THRESHOLD OF THE MIRACULOUS” (AN EXCERPT)

 Premieres  15 Responses »
May 202016
 

Blut Aus Nord-AEvangelist-Codex Obscura Nomina

 

A vast distance on the planet’s surface separates Blut Aus Nord and Ævangelist, but in the perilous, un-fleshed shadow realms from which their music seems to emanate, they are not so far apart. A split release by these two bands is one of those ideas that was ingenious in its conception but once revealed makes obvious sense — and it is an idea that has become a reality.

On June 17, Debemur Morti Productions will release Codex Obscura Nomina, a split LP by these two conjurors of otherworldly hallucinations. Blut Aus Nord contributes four songs while the split includes only a single track by Ævangelist — “Threshold of the Miraculous” — but it’s more than 21 minutes long. As a preview, today we’re bringing you the streaming premiere of an excerpt of that song, along with some thoughts about the song as a whole. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PERIHELION — “FENEKETLEN”

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May 202016
 

Perihelion-Hold video

 

I hope that most visitors here have realized by now that our site’s name is not entirely serious and not entirely impervious to the attractions of clean singing. But we are at least partially serious: Given our own prejudices and predilections, exceptional music is necessary for us to make exceptions to our “rule” — and Perihelion have earned a permanent pass.

Last year I wrote frequently about the wonders of Zeng, the remarkable 2015 album by this Hungarian band. We had the pleasure of premiering a song from the album (“Vég se hozza el”) and named a different one (“Égrengető”) to our list of last year’s Most Infectious Metal Songs. And now Apathia Records has brought us a new Perihelion EP named Hold that is a marvel in its own right — with a song transformed into an even more wondrous experience by the video we’re premiering today: “Feneketlen“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: (ECHO) — “BLOOD AND SKIN”

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May 192016
 

EchO-Head First into Shadows

 

On May 23rd the Russian label BadMoonMan Records/Solitude Productions will release Head First into Shadows, the second album by the Italian band (EchO). Today we bring you the premiere of the new album’s opening track, “Blood and Skin“.

Since the band’s 2011 debut album Devoid of Illusions, there have been changes in (EchO)’s line-up as well as movements in the band’s sound, and the new record (mastered by Esoteric’s Greg Chandler) also features guest appearances by Daniel Droste (Ahab) and Jani Hala-Hukkala (Callisto) on two songs. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): IN TWILIGHT’S EMBRACE — “TREMBLING”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
May 192016
 

In Twilight's Embrace-Trembling

 

For me and many others, The Grim Muse by Poland’s In Twilight’s Embrace was one of 2015’s highlights — a multifaceted and uniformly strong melodic death metal album loaded with fantastic riffs, memorable lead-guitar melodies and solos, powerful performances by the rhythm section, and absolutely ferocious vocals. The band are now following that stand-out album with a new three-song EP entitled Trembling, which will be released by Arachnophobia Records on May 25 (which is also the day set for Arachnophobia’s release of a vinyl edition of The Grim Muse). Today we bring you a full stream of the new EP.

These three new songs were recorded by the band during the same sessions that produced The Grim Muse, but were set aside with the idea of this EP specifically in mind. True to the band’s penchant for creating variations in their core sound, each song is distinctive, no one of them quite like the other two — yet all three are both dark and blistering. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GREY AURA — “IJSHOEK”

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May 182016
 

Grey Aura cover

 

Grey Aura are a two-man Dutch band who have recorded a massive debut album, a double-record entitled Waerachtighe beschryvinghe van drie seylagien, ter werelt noyt soo vreemt ghehoort that was initially self-released on Bandcamp and will now be released in June by the astute Finnish label Blood Music, both digitally and in a remarkable 2-CD set housed in a 60-page hardback book with foil-stamped printing.

Now, you may have already heard something about this unusual and tremendously ambitious album. In fact, if you have long memories, you may have heard about it here at NCS, because I wrote about two of the songs when they were first released for streaming in late 2014. Yes, this has been in the works for a long time, but when you understand more about the nature and scope of the project, you’ll understand why so much time has been invested in it. And so here’s the context of this album — followed by our premiere of yet another song: “Ijshoek“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GOZU — “BIG CASINO”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  4 Responses »
May 172016
 

Gozu-Revival

 

Get ready to move. Loosen up your neck muscles and discard any items of tight, confining clothing. Hell, just take everything off. If you feel even a slight urge to go to the bathroom, go ahead and get that out of the way now (I’ll explain why in a minute). All set? Then let’s go…

Here’s a new song named “Big Casino” from Revival, which is the forthcoming third album by Gozu, a group of Boston bruisers whom I’ve only just discovered and whose music has already proven to be powerfully addictive and absolutely, physically, compulsive. The album will arrive on June 10 via Gozu’s new label, Ripple Music. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RED DAWN — “HATE”

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May 172016
 

Red Dawn-Algorithm of Destruction

 

Algorithm of Destruction is the title of the debut album by Red Dawn from Rennes in the French region of Brittany. It’s a nine-track onslaught of death metal in the bloodline of such bands as The Faceless, Necrophagist, Decapitated, Aborted, and Gorod, and today we happily bring you the premiere of the album’s second track, appropriately titled “Hate“.

If you’re in the mood to be jackhammered, eviscerated, and then shot through a threshing machine at the speed of a particle accelerator, then “Hate” is just what you need. But it offers more than the adrenaline rush of that kind of experience. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SUBTERRANEAN DISPOSITION — “ALL ROADS LEAD TO PERDITION”

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May 172016
 

Subterranean Disposition-CONTAGIUUM AND THE LANDSCAPES OF FAILURE

 

The best music videos (and unfortunately they’re a small percentage of the total) are those in which the visuals enhance the emotional impact of the music, and sometimes even make you think about the music in a different way. The video we’re premiering in this post is an example of such an effective partnership of sight and sound. It’s for the song “All Roads Lead To Perdition” by Subterranean Disposition from Melbourne, Australia, whose new album Contagiuum and the Landscapes of Failure will be released by Hypnotic Dirge Records and Solitude Productions on June 13.

This new album is the band’s second, though the group’s founder Terry Vainoras is no newcomer, having spent time in a variety of music projects for more than two decades. In addition to performing on guitar, bass, and saxophone for the album as well as contributing different vocal expressions, he enlisted the help of Dan Nahum (Bleakwood, The Veil, Dead River Runs Dry) on drums, Gelareh Pour on the Kemancheh and Qeychak Alto (plus vocals), and guest vocalist Daniel Lucas. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WINTERHORDE — “WORMS OF SOUL”

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May 162016
 

Winterhorde-Maestro

 

(We are fortunate to bring you a premiere of a song from the new album Maestro by the Israeli collective known as Winterhorde, with the following introduction by our writer DGR.)

The passage of time tends to make all of us look insane, because when you consider the sheer numbers, a gap of six years between albums looks pretty tremendous. Six years lies pretty far over on the longer side of the “waiting for a new disc” listener spectrum. Yes, so much happens in metal that you almost don’t notice, save for when all of a sudden bands dramatically reappear and drop new albums on us, seemingly out of nowhere.

Winterhorde are one such band, an Israeli symphonic-black metal band whose last album Underwatermoon was released in 2010 — an album which I praised in part because it had the temerity to feature both a boat and a planet on its cover, in a year where it seemed like eighty percent of metal releases either had a boat or a planet as their art. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABOVE AURORA — “OPEN THE WOUNDS”

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May 132016
 

Above Aurora-Onwards Desolation

 

Onwards Desolation is the title of the debut album by the Polish band Above Aurora. It will be released by Pagan Records near the end of this month, and today we bring you the premiere of a track from the album named “Open the Wounds“.

Above Aurora juxtapose elements of atmospheric doom and black metal as a method of ratcheting tension and then releasing it. “Open the Wounds” is a good example of how well the band have mastered this technique, and of their skill at writing songs that seize the listener’s attention and then continue to exert a magnetic attraction even after the last note. Continue reading »

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