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AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE AND A REVIEW: ARPHAEL — “GUIDED BY LIGHT”

Jul 212015

(In this post we present TheMadIsraeli’s review of the new album by the Ukrainian one-man band Arphael, along with a full-album stream.)

For me, this album represents a whole new evolutionary step for death metal. It would be hard to argue that Arphael’s music is nothing more than death metal, but it’s obviously the driving force behind his music. I feel like he sought to create something truly extreme and overwhelming in every sense, and he has already accomplished that goal.

I did a small write-up about the music not long ago, with a brief recommendation of his only album at that time, Ambigram, an album that threw more at me than I had any clue what to do with. Guided by Light is Arphael’s sophomore album, and it represents a dramatic step up in every way from his first album. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AENAON AND VIRUS OF KOCH

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Jul 212015

We present to you in this post a special dual premiere, the two new songs by the Greek black metal bands Aenaon and Virus of Koch that will appear on their new 7″ vinyl split, scheduled for release on September 7, 2015, via III-Damnation Productions, with artwork by Alexander Leybovich. Below you will find a few words about each song — “Ultima Momentum” from Aenaon and “Voro: Forma Mentis” by Virus of Koch — plus the music streams.

The split will be released in 50 copies of black/white haze vinyl (available for pre-order here) and 200 copies in black vinyl (available here). In a word, it’s fantastic.

AENAON: “ULTIMA MOMENTUM”

The new song from Aenaon follows their brilliant 2014 album Extance, which made many of our year-end lists and was also the source of a track (“Grau Diva”) that we named to our list of last year’s “Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs”. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ORPHEUS OMEGA — “PARTUM VITA MORTEM”

Album Reviews, Premieres 6 Responses »

Jul 202015

(Today we bring you the premiere of a full stream of the new third album by Orpheus Omega, scheduled for release later this month by Kolony Records — preceded by this typically detailed review from our man DGR.)

Orpheus Omega are a young melodeath band from Melbourne, Australia. They’ve been around for seven years now and have managed to produce two albums, an EP — and one new disc coming out very soon. That album is the one you’re about to hear in its entirety, Partum Vita Mortem.

Until 2013, they operated under just the name Orpheus, but wound up adding the Omega to their name that year. They hail from the school of melodeath that places a heavy emphasis on keyboard work and guitar melody, the school that became incredibly popular with the explosion of bands like Soilwork, In Flames, and Dark Tranquillity. However, the band really came into their own with 2013’s Resillusion and showed that they could modernize that sound. They also proved that they would be one of those bands who seemed to improve astronomically with every album.

Over the past couple of years we, here at NCS seem to have had good fortune in finding groups like this, bands who are clearly students of a genre yet play like masters, who recognize the boundaries of what they are playing with yet still put out fantastic material with the tools they have. Aether Realm, Words Of Farewell, and Crepuscle spring to mind as more recent discoveries who, alongside Orpheus Omega, are proving to be the new blood of this keyboard-heavy branch of the melodeath genre. In the case of Orpheus Omega, Partum Vita Mortem is their most mature and well-developed album to date. Continue reading »

INFERA BRUO: A REVIEW OF “IN CONJURATION” AND THE PREMIERE OF “ASTROGENESIS”

Album Reviews, Premieres 7 Responses »

Jul 172015

I’ve been on a Bindrune Recordings roll this week, with a review of the new Panopticon album on Monday, a review of the new Alda album on Wednesday (with a song premiere), and now this review of the new album by Boston’s Infera Bruo — and a premiere of one of its stellar new songs. I’ve been living with these three albums for a while, and life has been good. If it’s not too much to hope for some justice in the world, it should be good for these bands and this label as well.

Infera Bruo’s new album In Conjuration is the band’s third full-length, following their 2011 self-titled debut and 2013’s Desolate Unknown. In the past, the band’s music has drawn favorable comparisons to that of Enslaved, and no doubt the new album’s progressive casting of black metal will again invoke remembrances of those masterful Norwegians. These new compositions are often complex and challenging in ways that should appeal to fans who appreciate avant-garde approaches to extreme metal. But the album is also a very dark and unsettling beast, with an affinity for tension-ratcheting intensity that rarely reaches the breaking point. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ADVERSARIAL — “CURSED BLADES CAST UPON THE SLAVESCUM OF CHRIST”

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Jul 172015

The last two releases by Adversarial have been short ones — a split with Paroxsihzem last year (Warpit of Coiling Atrocities, reviewed here) and another one with Antediluvian in 2012 (Initiated In Impiety As Mysteries, reviewed here). Both of them were stunningly good — and so I’ve had supremely high expectations for the band’s second full-length, Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism. As high as they were, those expectations were elevated even further after I saw the band’s obliterating set on the final night of this year’s Maryland Deathfest.

Sometimes, perhaps most of the time, when you have such high hopes for a new release, you find yourself at least somewhat disappointed when it finally arrives. Not this time.

Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism will be essential listening for fans of black/death. It’s Adversarial’s best work to date, which is saying something — a journey into a vortex of lightless chaos that’s both terrifying and somehow entrancing. Today we are privileged to unsheathe this black knife as we premiere one of a very strong album’s strongest tracks, “Cursed Blades Cast Upon the Slavescum of Christ“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DIABOLUS ARCANIUM — “HERALD OF DARKNESS”

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Jul 172015

In this post we present the premiere of “Herald of Darkness”, a song from the forthcoming debut album Path of Ascension by Diabolus Arcanium from Chennai, India.

The orchestral component of the band’s music makes its presence known immediately in a waltz-like melody augmented by choral voices. The orchestration remains a dominant and dramatic feature of the song, becoming more sweeping and bombastic after the metal instruments come in and lead vocalist Hex begins to snarl his lyrics with bestial vehemence. The power and bombast of the symphonic sound lends a theatrical air to the song, with a heavy, jagged edge added by the metal riffing, the thrumming bass line, and the rumbling drumwork.

But the aural spectacle of the orchestration (arranged by keyboardist Archon) is matched by Hex’s extended guitar solo — a fiery, flamboyant performance that works hand-in-glove with the pageantry of the symphonic music. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SADISTIC RITUAL — “FUNERAL RAID”

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Jul 162015

Unspeakable Axe Records is on the verge of releasing a new EP named Edge of the Knife by Atlanta’s Sadistic Ritual, and today we’ve got for you the premiere of the EP’s second track: “Funeral Raid“.

For those of you unfamiliar with Sadistic Ritual, they claim inspiration from such old-school slaughtering thrashers as Kreator, Sodom, Razor — and of course Slayer. And when you hear “Funeral Raid”, you’ll appreciate that Sadistic Ritual isn’t yet another straggler in the gaggle of new-school re-thrash bands. Listening to this song is like grabbing a severed power line, jamming it down your throat, and experiencing the thrill of your head bursting into flames.

The incendiary riffs erupt right out of the gate and don’t let up. Augmented by a couple of white-hot whammy-bar solos and a rancid, mad-dog vocal attack, “Funeral Raid” is a full-on adrenaline rush fueled by the spirit of old-school savagery. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DISPLAY OF DECAY — “CREATED TO KILL”

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Jul 152015

Almost exactly one year ago we premiered the title track from a new EP — Outbreak of Infection — by Display of Decay from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Since then the band have completed work on a new album (their second full-length) entitled Dust of Existence, and today we’ve got for you the first single from the record, a head-wrecker named “Created To Kill“.

You can’t accuse the band of false advertising, that’s for sure — the song’s title is a completely accurate description of the music. It’s a title that’s also linked to the song’s lyrics, which are based on events from 19th-century Europe, with references to the origination of Frankenstein’s monster and attempts at resurrecting the dead. As a whole, the album continues the narrative begun in Outbreak of Infection, relating the aftermath of a devastating virus that has annihilated humankind. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UNBREAKABLE HATRED — “RUINS”

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Jul 152015

Unique Leader Records has a well-demonstrated taste for bands who join death metal ferocity to head-spinning complexity and technical flair, and this past spring they added another eye-opening group to their growing roster — Unbreakable Hatred from Quebec City. The band’s second album Ruins is now projected for release in August, and we’re about to give you a glimpse of the carnage within as we premiere the album’s title track.

Unbreakable Hatred is a power trio consisting of guitarist Philippe Drouin, his brother Dominic on drums, and vocalist/bassist Simon B. Lapointe. The band’s debut album Total Chaos was released in 2011, and they’ve drawn praise from an impressive collection of other musicians:

“Unbreakable Hatred is one of Canada’s premier death metal acts; this trio of power lays waste to the listeners’ ear drums on every level and then some!” – Terrance Hobbs, Suffocation

“Unbreakable Hatred blew us away each night with their energy and ripping songs; it was a total pleasure to have them on our tour and the best is most certainly to come – Ferocious!” — Jason Netherton, Misery Index

“Unbreakable Hatred from Quebec are definitly one of the new bands out there to be recognized! Once again proving that Quebec musicians are on top of their Game! ” — Flo Mounier, Cryptopsy

“Great musicians, brutally heavy and very strong live, definitely a band to watch out for.” — Bobby Koelble, Death

AN NCS PREMIERE: GURTHANG AND BEYOND LIFE — “MELODIES OF SORROW”

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Jul 142015

In this post we bring you the full streaming premiere of Melodies of Sorrow, a new split release by the Polish bands Gurthang and Beyond Life that is being released today by Denver-based Cimmerian Shade Recordings. Gurthang contributes three songs to the split, and four come from Beyond Life. Together, they create a dark and disorienting listening experience, filled with dread and despair — but it’s also fascinating.

GURTHANG

Gurthang has been a prolific project since its creation by vocalist/multi-instrumentalist A.Z.V. in 2010, with a number of short releases and four full-length albums to its credit, including this year’s appearance of the latest album, I Will Not Serve. The songs on Melodies of Sorrow were recorded by A.Z.V. in 2013. Continue reading »

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