AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: BEARSTORM — “AMERICANUS”

 Premieres  10 Responses »
Jun 252015
 

 

(Austin Weber brings us the full streaming premiere of the new album by Bearstorm from Richmond, Virginia.)

Occasionally bands win the lottery, the stars line up perfectly, and you get a near-perfect band name and an idea for a sound that focuses on an as-yet-uncombined merger of musical styles. In such a rare moment, Richmond, Virginia-based Bearstorm was born.

Graced with more than an intriguing band name, Bearstorm are truly a whirlwind of creativity and gorgeous fury fused together in an inseparable union of awesomeness. Islander mentioned them in a post not too long ago, and so here we are with a full album stream to show you what this mindfucking new record called Americanus is all about. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SKINLESS — “BARBARIC PROCLIVITY”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Jun 252015
 

 

Of course, you’ve already grabbed a copy of the new Skinless album, Only the Ruthless Remain, and allowed it to gnaw off your leg, rupture your spleen, and rend your face into bloody tatters.

What’s that? You haven’t??? Well damn, maybe you need a little extra encouragement. We can arrange that. In fact we have arranged that, because we’re delivering right here, right now, a premiere of the band’s lyric video for the song “Barbaric Proclivity“, the title of which could hardly be a more apt description of what the song and the album exhibit, in spades. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ABNORMAL THOUGHT PATTERNS — “DISTORTION OF PERCEPTION”

 Premieres  9 Responses »
Jun 252015
 

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song and video by Abnormal Thought Patterns.)

California-based Abnormal Thought Patterns are in my estimation one of a rare breed of astonishing instrumental metal acts deserving of praise and much more press, yet who are somehow among the least-mentioned instrumental groups (which I don’t understand). The last time I wrote about them here at NCS was when I put the band’s 2013 record, Manipulation Under Anesthesia, on my lengthy 2013 year-end list. Fortunately, the band have a new record to engage with and be enamored by called Altered States Of Consciousness, which comes out June 26th through Lifeforce Records. Ahead of its release, we at NCS are proud to show you a new song/new video from this album called “Distortion Of Perception”.

The core of the band has always been the genius guitar/bass duo of the Tipton brothers (Troy Tipton on bass/ Jasun Tipton on guitar). I first fell in love with their Meshuggah-influenced prog/shred madness back in 2001 with their old (in a modern context way) pre-djent record, The Towers Of Avarice, by their previous band Zero Hour. Even their old drummer from Zero Hour, Mike Guy, continued along with them on this new soaring instrumental avenue paved with soulful chug ‘n’ shred done right (and far better than most others), and the band further includes second guitarist Jason Montero. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RAISING THE VEIL — “QUBIT COMPUTED MULTIVERSE”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Jun 242015
 

 

In the wake of a successful crowd-funding campaign this spring, the multinational group Raising the Veil are preparing for the release of their debut album, Bosonic Quantum Phenomena, and today we’ve got for you the premiere of the album’s first single, “Qubit Computed Multiverse“.

The new album marks the band’s second release overall, following their 2012 EP Yucatanimvs. In its current configuration, the band includes Austrian vocalist George Wilfinger (Monument of Misanthropy, Disfigured Divinity, ex-Miasma), Canadian guitarist Daniel McLellan and bass-player Denis Landry, and Necrophagist drummer Romain Goulon. Together, they’ve created some brain-scrambling, pulse-pounding, progressive-minded tech-death capable of re-wiring your neurons and firing their synapses at will. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SATANARCHIST / RESIGNED TO FATE — A SPLIT

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 242015
 

 

The split we’re premiering today is an unusual one. One of the bands is alive and kicking (like a mule), one is defunct. One is as raw, raucous, and chaotic as you could want, and the other has a well-produced sound, with a lot of smartly crafted dynamics and stick-in-your-head melodies. And the split is a DIY effort that came to us out of nowhere.

But hang on to your seats, because if you like metal with megawatt energy that will give you an adrenaline-inducing rocket ride, plus enough interesting contrasts to keep you rooted in place, this thing is going to grab you hard from beginning to end.

Satanarchist, from Portland, Oregon, is the first of these two bands, and this split marks their recording debut. The second band, once based in Denton, Texas, is Resigned To Fate. They have a few things in common, including the fact that Satanarchist’s guitarist John was once a member of Resigned To Fate, plus the incorporation of thrash riffs in the melting pot of their respective sounds. But it’s still best to take them one at a time. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AMIENSUS — “ONE IN SPIRIT” (AND A TOUR UPDATE)

 Premieres  13 Responses »
Jun 232015
 

 

In the wake of Amiensus‘ excellent 2013 debut album Restoration, their split that same year with Oak Pantheon entitled Gathering, and their cover of Forefather’s “Wolfhead’s Tree” last fall, the band’s new album Ascension has become one of our most highly anticipated of 2015.  In May we had the pleasure of bringing you the premiere of the album’s first single (“What Worlds Create”) and today we bring you a second one: “One In Spirit” — and an update about the band’s forthcoming tour.

“One In Spirit” displays the band’s talent for uniting sublime melodies with hammering riffs and rhythms that get the blood pumping fast and hard. The pairing of clean, soaring vocals and harsh growls symbolizes that joinder of beauty and the beast, as does the integration of an acoustic interlude side-by-side with a charging gallop of jolting riffs and driving percussion, and the contrast of a mesmerizing guitar solo gliding over heavy, booming bass notes. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AIRLINES OF TERROR — “PEDOPHILIAC SKYJACKING”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 222015
 

 

If you’ve been keeping a count, then you know this is our third premiere of a song from Terror From the Air, the new album by Italy’s Airlines of Terror. In mid-May, we rolled out the first single from the new album, “U.F.O.=Tesla” (here) and then about two weeks ago we brought you the title track (here). Now, we deliver unto your vulnerable ears a video for the album’s third track, “Pedophiliac Skyjacking“.

And why, you may ask yourselves, have we been giving this band so much attention? Well, duh, because this album is an unholy onslaught of high-grade death metal romping and slaughtering! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND AN INTERVIEW): KHEMMIS — “ASH, CINDER, SMOKE”

 Interviews, Premieres  21 Responses »
Jun 222015
 

 

I don’t have a crystal ball, just some experience and a willingness to make guesses, but my prediction is that with a little word of mouth and the increasing exposure of their music, Denver-based Khemmis are going to blow up. They’re excellent songwriters, they’re accomplished musicians, they pour their souls into their music — and their music is righteous. They also have a tube-assisted wizard for a mascot.

In the wide-ranging interview that accompanies the song we’re about to premiere from their debut album, “Ash, Cinder, Smoke“, I unfairly asked the band if they could sum up their sound and style in a paragraph or less for people new to their music. They did it in six words — “Like a doom metal Iron Maiden.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NACHTTERROR — “THE BREATH OF THE WORLD ABLAZE”

 Premieres  10 Responses »
Jun 182015
 

 

In July 2015, Hypnotic Dirge Records will release a split album by two Saskatchewan-based blackened doom metal bands — Nachtterror and Altars of Grief — which becomes available for pre-order today. The album is entitled Of Ash and Dying Light, and we’re giving you a taste of what it holds in store through our premiere of a Nachtterror track named “The Breath of the World Ablaze“.

Established in 2004, Nachtterror have previously released two EPs, 2008’s The Funeral of Man and 2012’s Beneath the Crimson Moon, and they’re currently at work on a debut album named Judgement. The vinyl version of this new split includes two songs by the band — the one we’re premiering today plus “Upon Ashen Shores”. In addition, the digital version of the album includes two bonus Nachtterror tracks (all vinyl orders will receive an automatic e-mail with the bonus tracks). Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: TEMPLE OF GNOSIS — “MYSTERIVM MAGNVM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  4 Responses »
Jun 152015
 

 

Ten days ago, during one of my MISCELLANY excursions, I came across a just-released EP entitled Mysterivm Magnvm by a one-man project from Serbia named Temple of Gnosis. At that point I only wrote about one song from the album — its title track —  and not long after, the stream of the EP disappeared into the mists. But today we’ve got the pleasure of bringing you the resurrection of that stream as we premiere the entire EP.

Temple of Gnosis is the creation of someone who calls himself H.M.T., and Mysterivm Magnvm is the project’s debut EP. It’s being released by Goathorned Productions and it’s described as a concept work based on the “alchemical process of Enlightenment”, and specifically on the initial step of “deconstruction” along the path toward “transformation of mind and spirit”: Continue reading »

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