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AN NCS PREMIERE: LAKE OF VIOLET — “CAPTIVE/FUGITIVE”

Mar 172016

It was already a given that Lake of Violet’s new album would be worth hearing because of the label that’s bringing it out — Gilead Media — and the alluring cover art and intriguing album title (The Startling Testimony of Plumb Lines) sealed the deal. But when I learned who is in the band, I became not merely interested in the music but intensely curious.

The line-up consists of guitarist André Foisy (Locrian, Kwaidan), drummer Anthony Michael Cori (Cedars of Lebanon, ex-Minsk), bassist Jacob Essak (Sun Splitter), and vocalist Neil Jendon (Kwaidan, Catherine). I thought, what in the world might people such as these have concocted? As it turns out, the music is more out of this world than in it.

We have the pleasure of premiering one of these remarkable songs today: “Captive/Fugitive“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DRUDKH — “FIERY SERPENT”

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Mar 172016

In the wake of their excellent 2015 album A Furrow Cut Short, Ukraine’s Drudkh have decided to release their next recorded output through a series of split EPs, the first of which will see the band join forces with Norway’s Hades Almighty under the name One Who Walks With the Fog / Pyre Era, Black!. Drudkh‘s contributions to the split consist of two songs — “Golden Horse” and “Fiery Serpent” — and today we bring you a stream of the latter track.

We are told that Drudkh‘s principal creative force Roman Sayenko drew his lyrical inspiration for the songs from the poetry of Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Svidzins’kyi (1885-1941), “who was murdered by the Soviets after years of censorship and repression”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ZHRINE — “UTOPIAN WARFARE”

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Mar 172016

The new album Unortheta by the Icelandic band Zhrine has made me very happy, for at least three reasons. First, now I know what happened to Gone Postal. Second, now I have another way to launch my mind into the frigid void of space without using intoxicants that will leave me retching in the morning. Third, they have spread across that mystical void an array of spectral terrors and brilliant spectacles that are as mesmerizing as they are harrowing.

When I first encountered Gone Postal back in 2012, via a 2011 demo that followed their 2008 debut album (In the Depths of Despair), I wondered whether the name they had chosen for themselves really suited the music — which was shot through with ripping/roaring tremolo guitars, vicious rhythms, and an air of bleak dissonance. The vocal style flexed between harsh growls and eviscerating shrieks. The production was as raw as a fresh wound. Yet as cacophonous as the music often was, strange melodies rang out through the tidal wash of bile, lending the music a kind of sick fascination. The name “Gone Postal” captured the derangement of the sound, yet even by then the name had a kind of archaic ring to it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BOG OF THE INFIDEL — “COILS OF THE NOOSE”

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Mar 162016

Black metal has morphed into so many different manifestations that you can’t make general statements about the genre any more (and maybe you never could). But there’s a certain long-lasting strain of the black plague that appeals to me because it’s both hot and cold at the same time — searing in its speed and intensity, yet cold in the bleak, doomed, misanthropic aura generated by the melodies. That’s the character of “Coils of the Noose“, the new song by Rhode Island’s Bog of the Infidel that we’re premiering in this post.

The song appears on the band’s second album, Asleep In the Arms of Suicide, which will be released by Eternal Death Records on April 8. I think you’ll hear what I mean quite clearly, but I’ll also share these comments from the band about the song: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IDOLATRY — “TIAMATIC WINDS”

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Mar 142016

Last April we had the pleasure of premiering a striking video for a powerful song by Idolatry from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The song was “Clefs Au Chambre de Tristêsse (A Key To the Room of Sadness)“, and it appeared on a split named Infection Born of Ending with the Ohio black metal band Unrest. Since then, Idolatry have completed work on their debut album, which bears the name Visions From the Throne of Eyes, and today we again bring you another Idolatry premiere, this time for a scorching assault from the new album named “Tiamatic Winds“.

According to the band: “The track is about wildfires ripping through western Canada during the writing of the lyrics. Imagining Tiamat, the Satanic entity, encouraging and blowing the flames hungrily across the mountains.” Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SOLOTHUS — “NO KING REIGNS ETERNAL”

Album Reviews, Premieres 8 Responses »

Mar 132016

Finland’s Solothus made a powerful full-length debut with their 2013 album Summoned From the Void reviewed here) — so powerful that one might not have expected them to climb much higher with their next album. But they have. The new work is named No King Reigns Eternal, and you can listen to it here in its entirety.

The new album blends many of the same ingredients that were present in Summoned From the Void, yet the songwriting is even stronger, the wrenching melodies even more memorable, the guitar performances even more exceptional and varied, and the overall emotional impact of the album even more potent. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: UNIVERSE 217 — “CHANGE”

Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres 6 Responses »

Mar 112016

(KevinP introduces our premiere of the new album by Universe 217 from Greece — a well-earned exception to the “rule” in our site’s name.)

Today we have the honor and privilege to present to you the fourth full-length album from Greek doom masters, Universe217. Change is due on March 18, 2016 via Ván Records and is simply the best material of their career.

While I never subscribed to the theory that vocalist Tanya carried the band, I could understand the sentiment. She is in a class all her own, like a more dynamic and powerful metal version of Janis Joplin. But Change shows a band that is on equal ground; no longer does the music take a back seat to Tanya’s soaring, emotionally driven vocals. There’s a sonic immediacy to it, with a richer and fuller sound and with more textures — the instrumental music could easily stand on its own. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VLK — “WITH BANNERS RAISED”

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Mar 102016

In June 2015 I came across a rough mix of song by a Chicago band named Vlk that made quite an impression, despite the fact that little information was available about the band. As I wrote then, it come across as a stripped-down fusion of punk and black metal, with a raw edge and damned catchy melodies to go along with the ugly, clawing vocals and the music’s feral energy and dynamic pacing. It rocked hard but also included segments that one might even call atmospheric, and the drumming was also interesting (and definitely not “standard” black metal blasting).

It turns out that, with a slight wording change, that track became the title song to Vlk’s forthcoming debut album, Of Wolves’ Blood, which is now due for digital and cassette release on March 21 (with the tape edition coming out via Tour de Garde). Today we happily bring you the premiere of another song from the album, a track named “With Banners Raised“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IZEGRIM — “RECLAIM MY IDENTITY”

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Mar 102016

When I come across an album that’s adorned by an Eliran Kantor painting, that’s a very good sign. It tends to signify attention to detail and pride in craftsmanship, not only in the packaging but usually in the music. Of course, it’s no guarantee of metal quality, but in the case of Izegrim‘s new album The Ferryman’s End, the audio and the visual art are a fine match.

The new album, which is Izegrim‘s fifth, is due for release on April 15 by Listenable Records, and today we bring you a new song to sample — a track called “Reclaim My Identity”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EXALTER — “TORTURED INNOCENTS”

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Mar 102016

Thrash lives — it lives all over the world. That should come as no surprise to anyone, but when you hear kick-ass thrash erupting out of Bangladesh, it’s a good reminder for people like me on the other side of the world from that ancient land.

The band I’m taking about is Exalter, and they’ve got a new release named Obituary For the Living that’s being released by Transcending Obscurity Distribution. This EP includes three new songs plus the four tracks from the band’s debut outing Democrasodomy as a bonus. What we’ve got for you today is the premiere of one of the new songs, “Tortured Innocents”. Continue reading »

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