AN NCS PREMIERE: CHALICE OF BLOOD — “SHEMOT”

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Dec 102014
 

 

Sweden’s Chalice of Blood announced their arrival in the occult realms of black metal with a three-song demo in 2005 (Angelus Diaboli) and followed that with two split releases, including their excellent 2014 split with Israthoum on the Daemon Worship label. Early next year Daemon Worship will release the band’s most accomplished work yet, a five-song EP entitled Helig, Helig, Helig, and today we bring you the first taste of the new music through our premiere of a track entitled “Shemot“.

Those in search of “atmospheric” black metal or sweeping melodies that tug on the heartstrings will have to look elsewhere. “Shemot” is red of tooth and claw, a predatory assault that’s more interested in ripping out the heart and devouring it. Driven by relentlessly blasting drums and the buzzing whir of fiery tremolo riffs, the music radiates venomous energy, its dark melody full of malevolent threat, the cracked-glass vocals uttering hateful proclamations with bestial vehemence. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ADVERSARIAL AND PAROXSIHZEM — NEW MUSIC FROM “WARPIT OF COILING ATROCITIES”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Dec 042014
 

 

When I first learned that Vault of Dried Bones would be releasing an album-length split by Adversarial and Paroxsihzem, entitled Warpit of Coiling Atrocities, I simultaneously experienced both a thrill and a chilling sensation, like a burst of adrenaline as the blood started freezing in my veins. I haven’t yet heard the complete results of this destructive alliance, but I have heard two of the songs on Warpit, and I got the thrill/chill all over again, big time. Now you’ll get a chance to hear them, too, as we  bring you the premiere of one song by each band from the split.

Both of these Toronto bands’ last releases came out in 2012 — Adversarial’s split with Antediluvian (reviewed here) and Paroxsihzem’s self-titled debut album. Both of them were hellholes of violence and depravity, which is to say they were excellent. So are these two songs. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SHED THE SKIN — “THE SKAPHE OF CHRIST / REBIRTH THROUGH BRIMSTONE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Dec 032014
 

 

You may not be familiar with the name Shed the Skin, but chances are you’ll recognize the names of some of its members.  This Ohio-based band is new, but the line-up includes drummer Kyle Severn (Incantation), guitarist Matt Sorg (Ringworm), vocalist/guitarist Ash Thomas (Vladimirs, Faithxtractor), bassist Ed Stephens (Ringworm), and Brian Boston (ex-From the Depths) on keyboards. Hells Headbangers will soon be releasing their debut two-song EP and today we’re bringing you a stream of the first track:  “The Skaphe of Christ / Rebirth Through Brimstone”.

Shed the Skin took shape when Sorg and Severn played together in a tribute to Cleveland’s Blood of Christ at a memorial show for their friend Tom Rojack (Blood of Christ’s 1993 promo EP included the song “Shed the Skin”), and then decided to forge ahead by recruiting the rest of the band’s impressive line-up. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CRETIN’S “STRANGER”

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Dec 012014
 

 

Eight years ago Cretin made a big splash with the release of their debut album Freakery, but eight years in the world of metal seems like an ice age, and it’s a long time in the lives of human beings, too. As good as Freakery was, trying to predict what this band would accomplish with their new album Stranger would have been a fool’s errand. But there’s no more need for guessing games — Stranger is on the verge of being released, and you’re about to get the chance to hear it from start to finish.

Spoiler alert: it’s really, really good. It might be the best grind album of the year. It’s certainly one of the best metal albums of 2014. Now augmented by the addition of guitarist Elizabeth Schall (Dreaming Dead), Cretin are once again a force to be reckoned with. Continue reading »

AN NCS FULL ALBUM PREMIERE: CORBEAUX — “HIT THE HEAD”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Dec 012014
 

 

Corbeaux are a French quartet consisting of two guitarists, a bass player, a drummer — and (almost) no vocalist. Their debut album Hit the Head is being released today, and we’re bringing you a full stream of the album’s six songs.

It might be enough to say that if you’re a fan of bands such as Russian Circles, Pelican, and If These Trees Could Talk, you will enjoy this album. But it deserves more than drive-by name-dropping. Especially for a debut album, Hit the Head is a dynamic and engrossing experience.

Both within each song and through the album as a whole, the music ebbs and flows, with changes of pace, volume, and mood that will keep you involved and interested. Anchored by distorted, grinding bass notes and precise but ever-changing drum rhythms and creative fills, the songs spin out a wide array of absorbing dialogues between the dual guitars. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GENOCIDE SHRINES — “SUBTERRANEAN KATACOMB, TERMINATION TEMPLE (HENOTHEISTIC PRIMAL DEMIURGE)”

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Nov 272014
 

Those vicious Canadian purveyors of Total Death, Vault of Dried Bones, have been preparing once again to open their bomb bay doors and rain destruction from the skies, and their new weapon of choice is a Sri Lankan band appropriately named Genocide Shrines.  This new release from the Vault Cult’s label will be the band’s first full-length album, and its title is Manipura Imperial Deathevokovil (Scriptures of Reversed Puraana Dharmurder).

As an introduction to what this album holds in store, we bring you today the premiere of the album’s third track, “Subterranean Katacomb, Termination Temple (Henotheistic Primal Demiurge)”. Those who may be familiar with the band’s 2012 Devanation Monumentemples EP or the Mahabharat Terror Attack split with Manifestor released last spring may still not be prepared for what it will do your peace of mind (it will leave it in pieces).

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SVARTIDAUÐI — “IMPOTENT SOLAR PHALLUS”

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Nov 262014
 

 

Iceland’s Svartidauði are perfecting the mechanics of tearing apart interdimensional membranes, exposing our ears to emanations from alien domains, while rocking very damned hard at the same time. Their latest offering, which will not be confused with the work of any other band, is a forthcoming two-song release from Daemon Worship Productions and Terratur Possessions entitled The Synthesis of Whore and Beast, and today we give you the chance to hear one of those two tracks: “Impotent Solar Phallus”.

Calling this music “black metal” feels unsatisfying. It’s too meager a description, and may in fact be misleading. “Impotent Solar Phallus” radiates reptilian menace, its exotic chords both disturbing and otherworldly, its booming/tumbling drumbeats conjuring images of a tribal ritual, as practiced by a tribe not found on this planet. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LORD IMPALER — “FINAL GATES” (AND A REVIEW OF “THE SERPENT SEAL”)

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Nov 262014
 

 

This year the Greek melodic black metal band Lord Impaler are celebrating their 16th year of life. In that long stretch of time they’ve released four demos (the first one in 1999), two split releases, a full-length album, and an EP. I’ve previously reviewed both the album (2011’s Admire the Cosmos Black) and the EP (2013’s Babylon Whore) — both of which are very impressive — but I’ve never heard any of the earlier demo recordings. Now all of us are about to get a taste of them in new form.

On December 7 Lord Impaler will release a special anniversary EP entitled The Serpent Seal – Το Αρχέγονο Σκότοσ Επιςτρέφει, which includes re-recorded versions of four songs from their first three demos, and today we’re premiering one of those tracks: “Final Gates”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ASCENSION — “BLACK EMBER”

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Nov 192014
 

 

I’ve been raving in recent months about a new two-song EP named Deathless Light by Germany’s Ascension, and as i noted in those write-ups, the band also have a new album on the way entitled The Dead of the World. Today, we’re fortunate top bring you a premiere of one of the new songs — “Black Ember”.

The album will be released by Season of Mist in North America on January 27, 2015, and is now available for pre-order at this location. As you are about to discover from this new song, the music is black metal of a very high order, music that’s savage and occult, dense and disturbing, but never less than fascinating.

It marks the band’s first album in four years, and it’s a welcome return. Check out “Black Ember” below. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MORBOSIDAD — “EN LAS GALLAS DEL INFIERNO”

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Nov 172014
 

 

Morbosidad have been shaking the foundations of extreme metal since about 1993, releasing a host of splits and EPs as well as four albums. Their latest release, with a new lineup recruited by founding vocalist Tomas Stench, is a four-song EP named Tortura that will be released by Nuclear War Now! on December 15. On the final track, it features a guest appearance by Chris Reifert of Autopsy. It kicks all the asses.

That preceding paragraph appeared in my review of this EP, posted only yesterday. No music from the EP was publicly streaming when I posted the review, and so I requested the opportunity to share some of it with you — and my request was promptly granted: Today we bring you the premiere of the EP’s second track, “En Las Gallas Del Infierno”.

What I wrote about the EP holds true for this song —  it’s a jet-fueled, turbocharged, bat-winged, red-eyed race, from the machine-gun snare attack to the particle-accelerator fretboard assault. And the echoing vocals are thoroughly pestilential — a mix of tyrannical proclamations, ravenous howls, bile-drenched retches, and blood-spewing roars. As is true of the most lethal diseases, it’s also highly infectious. Continue reading »

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