AN NCS PREMIERE: AMIENSUS — “WOLFHEAD’S TREE”

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Oct 012014
 

 

Minnesota’s Amiensus are a band we’ve followed closely, from their excellent 2013 debut album Restoration (reviewed here) to their split last year with Oak Pantheon, entitled Gathering (reviewed here). The band are now recording their second album, Ascension, but to keep fans at bay until it’s completed they’ve released a new free single that we have the pleasure of sharing with you today.

The song is named “Wolfhead’s Tree”, and it was originally recorded by the British duo known as Forefather for their 2008 album Steadfast. I wasn’t familiar with the song before listening to the Amiensus cover, but it’s really a perfect choice for the band, and they more than do it justice.

“Wolfhead’s Tree” is a dramatic and highly memorable pagan metal song, and it showcases both Amiensus’ aggressive side and their talent for performing grand and emotionally affecting melody. They stay close to Forefather’s original template, delivering both warlike black metal and folk metal that’s soul-stirring and sombre, while effectively adding keyboards in a way that enhances the mythic atmosphere of the music. Fitting the demands of the original, the vocals are an impassioned mix of jagged howls and strong, clean vocal harmonies. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ORACULUM — “THE VESSEL OF ORICHALCUM”

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Sep 302014
 

 

Everything about this song is massive — the sound, the grooves, and the scale of the trauma that it inflicts. If my instincts are correct, it will also prove to be massively appealing to fans of death metal in the vein of Bolt Thrower or vintage Sadistik Exekution. The song I’m speaking of is the one we’re premiering in this post: “The Vessel of Orichalcum”. It appears on Sorcery of the Damned, the forthcoming debut EP by a three-man Chilean band named Oraculum that’s slated for release by one of those underground labels that seems to do no wrong — Invictus Productions.

“The Vessel of Orichalcum” isn’t a “grower” — it’s such a stupendously galvanizing and supremely headbangable track that it exerts an iron-fisted grip on the pleasure centers right from the first listen — and the same is true of Oraculum’s EP as a whole.

Do you like your death metal so choked with distortion and caked with grit that it feels like you’re being hosed down with an industrial-strength sandblaster? You’re in luck! Do you grin stupidly at the assault of riffs that pound like sledgehammers, grind like bone saws, and rumble like a freight train passing just outside your door? Prepare for big smiles! Do you appreciate organic, brute-force percussion with a lot of rhythmic variety? Check that off, too. And do you eat up spitfire solos and reverberating vocals that sound like the wretched howls of an anguished demon? Prepare to dine sumptuously! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THY DARKENED SHADE — “SAATET-TA RENAISSANCE”

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Sep 292014
 

 

On October 31, 2014, W.T.C. Productions will release Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet, the second album by Greek black metal band Thy Darkened Shade. In due course, you will hear much more about this album at our humble site. For now, it is enough to say that it’s absolutely stunning — one of the year’s best.

Today we have two teasers for you: In this post we bring you the premiere of the album’s eighth track (of 11) — “Saatet-ta Renaissance” — and then a bit later today we will bring you a fascinating interview with the band’s main man Semjaza, an interview that will significantly affect the way you hear the music. But the music comes first.

“Saatet-ta Renaissance” is one of this massive album’s longest songs. As it moves from entrancing acoustic strumming and choral chanting into an abrupt explosion of blistering fretwork and blasting percussion, you may experience a feeling of disorientation — and that feeling may be enhanced by the warm bounding bass notes and the rocking back-beats that come next, or by the variance between primal clawing growls and clean-voiced proclamations that give life to the lyrics. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ZAPRUDER — “CYCLOPS”

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Sep 292014
 

 

The French band Zapruder made their advent two years ago with an EP named Straight From The Horse’s Mouth, and now they’re on the verge of delivering their debut album Fall In Line. The album’s title is an exercise in irony, because Zapruder plainly aren’t falling in line and they don’t want you to either. You’ll understand what I mean as soon as you listen to “Cyclops”, one of the nine tracks from the album that we’re premiering in this post.

Listening to “Cyclops” is akin to leaping on an infernal merry-go-round that’s spinning erratically (and dangerously), with flame-eyed horses bolting up and down like pistons in an engine with a mind of its own. Dissonant squalling chords mingle with skin-melting shrieks and cavernous roars, wind-shear speed gives way to a pounding dirge, knee-capping percussion coexists with almost ethereal reverberating lead guitar eeriness.  It’s unpredictable and unrelentingly intense music.

Both violent and cloaked in an aura of doom, “Cyclops” is heavy as hell and a fascinating and harrowing ride from a band who follow their own line. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: BULLETBELT — “RISE OF THE BANSHEE”

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Sep 252014
 

 

(We thank New Zealand-based metal writer and broadcaster Craig Hayes for the following introduction to our premiere of a full stream of the new album by New Zealand’s awesome Bulletbelt.)

 

Bands like Diocletian, Vassafor, Ulcerate, and Beastwars have done a lot to spread various strains of New Zealand metal around the globe in recent years, and there’s no doubt that the nation’s heaviest music is infecting more fans than ever. Of course, those bands are just the tip of the iceberg, because the New Zealand metal scene is packed to the gunnels with a diverse range of virulent bands, all showing a diehard strength of will.

Case in point: Bulletbelt.

The Wellington-based five-piece features long-serving members from New Zealand’s metal community, and draws a riotous crossover crowd at home. Bulletbelt’s fiery full-length debut, 2012’s Down in the Cold of the Grave, was certainly framed by black metal, but thrash, traditional metal, and punk rock’s vicious bite were all given free reign, too. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: REXOR — “DEMIGORGON”

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Sep 252014
 

 

I suppose if I were a responsible person I would tell you to proceed with caution, like a traffic sign on a highway to hell that’s about to drop precipitously into a lake of blood. But instead, my advice is to take your seatbelt off and floor it — that’s the best way to experience the new song we’re premiering from Italy’s Rexor today, because that’s the way they drive, too.

Rexor’s debut album, Ain, appeared in 2008, and their most recent release was a 2012 EP named Nox Obscura Sortis. Their new album is entitled Ut Humanitatem Caedant, and its advent is nearly upon us. As a sign of what awaits within, we bring you “Demigorgon”. It begins with a prelude that’s heavy with an air of infernal majesty — and then it explodes. There’s really no other word for it.

The drumwork is off the hook, a frenzied, hyperspeed display of almost inhuman dexterity and vehemence. The riffs are like a hail of razors. The vocals are pure acid spray. But as this dynamic song progresses and begins to slow into a wounded stagger, the bass almost becomes the dominant instrument (at the very least it seized my attention). Harnessed together, all of these elements of the music deliver an experience that’s energizing, malignant, ominous, and draped in a melodic atmosphere of unavoidable doom. It’s black metal that’s ravaging and powerful. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLUT AUS NORD — “PAIEN”

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Sep 252014
 

Two years ago Blut Aus Nord produced their last full-length album, Cosmosophy, which brought to a resounding close the 777 trilogy. Every album in the trilogy drew praise from critics and fans alike, despite the fact that no one of them sounded quite like any of the others. Cosmosophy left wide open the intriguing question of where Vindsval would go next — though in fairness, with a band as inventive, idiosyncratic, and contrarian as this one, that’s always a question.

Where Blut Aus Nord have gone next is a new album named Memoria Vetusta III — Saturnian Poetry, which will be released by Debemur Morti Productions on October 10. Having completed the very personal 777 project, in which Vindsval chose to work alone, the new album features a new drummer, a human one named Thorns, as well as stellar cover art by none other than Kristian “Necrolord” Wahlin (with layout and illustrations by Dehn Sora). “But what about the music?”, you ask.

The reappearance of the Memoria Vetusta title will no doubt have fans thinking about the first two albums bearing that same name, despite the fact that Dialogue With the Stars followed Fathers of the Icy Age by roughly 13 years and Saturnian Poetry comes more than five years after the release of Dialogue. In short, this is no trilogy; unlike 777, these are not three parts of a single massive piece of music. But at the same time the resurrection of that title, which refers to memories of what is long past, was not done carelessly — as you will hear. Continue reading »

HIDEOUS DIVINITY: “THE ALONEST OF THE ALONE”

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Sep 242014
 

 

Earlier this month we featured the first advance track from Cobra Verde, the new album by Italy’s Hideous Divinity, and today we have the pleasure of featuring a second one, in the form of a lyric video. This track is named “The Alonest Of The Alone” and it features Dallas Toler-Wade from Nile and Narcotic Wasteland).

Cobra Verde will be released by Unique Leader on October 28 in the U.S. and on October 27 in the UK and October 31 in the EU. As we previously reported, it’s a concept record inspired by the 1987 German film of the same name directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski in his final collaboration with Herzog before his death. The album also includes a cover of “Last and Only Son” by Ripping Corpse (from their 1992 EP Industry).

“The Alonest of the Alone” is yet further proof that Cobra Verde will be an unusually accomplished rendering of sonic savagery, combining a lot of highly accelerated technical whiz-bang with a talent for pummeling grooves and seductive melody. It abundantly earns the appellation of “brutality” without falling into the cesspool of mindless wankery or commonplace brutishness. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HELLISH OUTCAST — “HERESIARCH” (AND A REVIEW OF “STAY OF EXECUTION”)

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Sep 242014
 

 

(In this post we present Andy Synn’s review of the forthcoming second album by Norway’s Hellish Outcast and an exclusive premiere of the song “Heresiarch.)

It’s always nice to see a band you love progress and move forward. Whether it’s in terms of getting proggier and weirder, or just downright heavier and nastier, it’s always such a joy to watch them grow up.

Case in point: It’s been two and a half years since Hellish Outcast unleashed their debut album of fist-clenching riffage and throat-bursting agony on the world, but it’s clear that they’ve not been idle in the intervening time.

No, they’ve been sharpening their knives, honing their skills, and biding their time. And now they’re ready for war once again.

Faster, heavier… fundamentally darker and more malevolent than ever, Stay of Execution improves on the band’s debut in pretty much every way, drastically ramping up the kill-count with a merciless display of calculated lethality and an undercurrent of sinister, progressive melody. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: “MEDITATION ON EARTH” — FEATURING THE DEBUT OF “DEATH OBSESSION” BY APHONIC THRENODY

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Sep 242014
 

We have an unusual kind of premiere for you in this post, a collaboration between a visual artist and a metal band that is strange and hypnotic, and open to varying interpretations that depend on the imagination of the viewer/listener. The creator of the video is a Dutch artist named Jérôme Siegelaer, and the metal band is the multinational funeral doom collective known as Aphonic Threnody.

My own experience with Aphonic Threnody (whose members come from other well-regarded underground groups) goes back to 2011, when I came across their debut EP First Funeral (and wrote about some of the music here).  I wrote about them again (here) in a review of their superb 2014 split with Ennui entitled Immortal In Death. At last, the band have recorded a debut album entitled When Death Comes that’s due for release on the Doomentia label on October 31, and the longest song on that album, “Death Obsession”, is the soundtrack to this video. Or you could just as easily consider the video as a visual interpretation of “Death Obsession”. Continue reading »

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