Premieres Archives - Page 468 of 512

AN NCS PREMIERE: PLANKS — “SHE IS ALONE”

Aug 182015

Hosting this premiere is a bittersweet event for me. On the one hand, the song is by a German trio whose music I’ve greatly enjoyed for many years — and it’s an excellent song. On the other hand, the song appears on what will be the group’s final album. The band is Germany’s Planks, the album is Perished Bodies, and the song is “She Is Alone“.

By some measures the song is not among the heaviest of Plank’s creations. But though it may not be quite as “crushing” as some of their songs (as that adjective is commonly used), it packs an emotional punch that can still stagger you.

The song is distinctive in other respects as well. Vocally, it’s a duet between the band’s Ralph Schmidt and Leonie M. Löllmann, vocalist of the German grind/crust band SVFFER. The song was inspired by another duet, one between Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue on “Where the Wild Roses Grow”, but though you can understand why the one may have inspired the other, “She Is Alone” proves to be more savagely wrenching than spooky. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TODESSTOSS — “VERWEHUNG”

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Aug 172015

The new seventh album by Germany’s TODESSTOSS is named Hirngemeer, a word you will not find in the dictionary, a kind of jumbled contraction of the German words “Gehirn” (brain) and “Meer” (sea), as if to express the idea of a mind at sea with all moorings lost and no compass to guide it. That turns out to be a fitting title, as you will learn when you hear our premiere of the album’s first track, “Verwehung”, which means “drift”.

The album will be released on September 25 by I, Voidhanger Records, a label with a proven impeccable taste for the unorthodox and the fascinating (and no real regard for genre boundaries). The album is about 75 minutes long, but consists of only three tracks. At more than 28 minutes, “Verwehung” isn’t the longest. And yes, we’re bringing you that song in its complete form, not the kind of edited version that often appears in place of long tracks for fear of overtaxing short attention spans. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KINNEFRET — “SALVATION”

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Aug 172015

(TheMadIsraeli introduces our premiere of a new song by Kinnefret from Oakland, California.)

Kinnefret were recommended to me by Ted O’Neill of Oblivion a few days ago, and after checking them out, I rushed to see if I could secure SOMETHING with these guys. I’ve only heard two songs, but I’m thus far 100% hooked. The low down: They’re from California, and three-quarters of the band are Iranian immigrants who fled so they could play metal. Artak Ozan, the band’s founder and central pillar has told me that he is actually a political refugee here in the US for having already gotten on the Iranian government’s bad side.

The music is death metal that touches on all eras of the style. There’s some old school stuff, some modern hyper-technical stuff, a good dose of melody, and some grotesque Suffo/Dying Fetus shit thrown in, all with an underpinning of distinct Middle Eastern influence and melodic tendencies. The music is wicked, and the guitar front — the thing I care most about — is playful, complex, and interesting. The dual vocal assault of Ozan and vocalist Chelsea Rocha is also pretty overwhelming, with Rocha having a beastly and powerful voice. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THROAAT — “BLACK SPEED”

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Aug 142015

Invictus Productions is in the process of releasing Black Speed, the new (third) EP by Brooklyn-based Throaat, and we’re giving you the chance to hear all of it right here. And unless you’re giving CPR or performing brain surgery, you really should stop what you’re doing and listen to it right now.

Throaat’s music draws together some of metal’s most hallowed (and evil) traditions, from the sounds of Motörhead and first-wave black metal luminaries such as Venom and early Bathory to primal speed metal, thrash, and hints of occult rock.

Other modern bands pull from those same venerated wellsprings of metal, but Black Speed is exceptional in the quality of its songwriting, in the clarity and electrifying power of the performances and the production, and in the authenticity of the venomous spirit that breathes through the music. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SERIAL BUTCHER — “SADISTIC SPARE PARTS SURGERY”

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Aug 132015

Even if you’re not already familiar with Serial Butcher, the cover art by Tony Koehl for their forthcoming second album should tell you almost all you need to know about the music you’re about to hear. And if you’re a little slow to catch on, then take a second look at the title of the song we’re premiering and reflect upon the fact that it comes from an album named Brute Force Lobotomy.

Still not getting it? Well, consider the additional fact that Serial Butcher’s current line-up consists of current and formers members of Aborted, Emeth, Moker, and Ectopia, and that the album will be released by Unique Leader Records.

Still not enough information? Man, some of you must still be half-asleep. Well, here’s a statement from the band: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HEAVYDEATH — “DEAD TREES”

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Aug 132015

Heavydeath is a trio of experienced Swedish musicians (guitarist/vocalist Nicklas Rudolfsson, bassist Johan Bäckman, and drummer Daniel Moilanen) who have been involved in many other projects (including Necrocurse and Runemagick). With session drummer Oldfor Suns standing in for Danel Moilanen, who has been performing with Katatonia as their live drummer, Heavydeath have recorded a new EP entitled Dark Phoenix Rising that will be released by Caligari Records on August 25, 2015, and today we’ve got for you the premiere of the EP’s opening track, “Dead Trees“.

I’ve had this song running through my head virtually non-stop since first hearing it. When other music tries to enter the picture, “Dead Trees” just bulldozes it out of the way and stomps it to smithereens for good measure. The song’s central riff is massive — and massively catchy. It hammers and vibrates and occasionally spirals up into the sky from the dank pit where it spends most of its time. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE RITUAL AURA — “ERASED IN THE PURGE”

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Aug 122015

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new video and song from a forthcoming debut album by The Ritual Aura.)

We’ve covered The Ritual Aura before at NCS (here), and this Australian death squad are in impeccable form once again on the song/lyric video that we are premiering today called “Erased In The Purge”. In the time since we last wrote about them, they’ve signed to Lacerated Enemy Records and are nearing the release of their debut album, Laniakea, on August 27th.

If you think you know what you are in store for, “Erased In The Purge” has a few tricks up its sleeve beyond its primary mission of whipping you into a psychotic frothing frenzy. It’s so hellbent on destruction that it’s possible it was conceived specifically to be a sonic call to arms. If any nation around the globe with warmongering tendencies were smart, they’d make this their national fucking anthem. It’s that lethal. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FUNERAL THRONE — “HYPNOTIC COILS”

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Aug 122015

Last year, the British black metal band Funeral Throne released their second album, Threshold, through Exitium Productions in a very limited cassette edition. Now, Germany’s Blut & Eisen Productions will give the album a wider distribution on CD (and eventually vinyl), with an international release date of September 15, 2015. Today we bring you the premiere of Threshold’s fourth track, “Hypnotic Coils”.

Funeral Throne devoted five years of effort to the creation of Threshold and have explained that the songs commemorate specific times and experiences along a path of spiritual and musical growth. They also sought to avoid technical tricks of the trade such as drum triggering and re-amping of guitars in an effort to produce an authentic sound that would complement their effort to capture the “rebellion and truth” at the heart of “all true heavy metal”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MARE COGNITUM — “PULSES IN EXTRACONSCIOUS LUCIDITY”

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Aug 112015

Last year I, Voidhanger Records released Phobos Monolith, the third album by the one-man California project known as Mare Cognitum, and now that very tasteful label has decided to reissue the band’s second album, An Extraconscious Lucidity, in remastered form and with cover art and layout by Max Loeffler. Originally released only as a digital download and as a limited CD-r, the album includes six tracks of atmospheric black metal — and we are now premiering the closing one, “Pulses in Extraconscious Lucidity”.

The song is absolutely electric — I can’t think of a better word for it. Even when the song slows in the final third of its significant length, it’s a gripping piece of music. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HERCYN — “OF RUIN”

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Aug 112015

Following a debut demo in 2013 (Magda), an acoustic version of the demo in 2014, and a 2014 split release with Brooklyn’s Thera Roya (All This Suffering Is Not Enough), New Jersey’s Hercyn have completed work on their debut album. Entitled Dust and Ages, it’s set for release on September 11, and today we bring you the premiere of its first advance track, “Of Ruin“.

It’s a long song, topping 11 minutes, and it holds attention from start to finish, running the gamut from lilting folk-influenced acoustic melody to cascades of layered guitars, rippling bass notes, thundering percussion, and knife-edged vocal abrasion. The eye-opening performance of the rhythm section alone grabs you by the neck and never loosens its grip, while the slashing riffs and striking lead guitar melodies prove equally galvanizing. Continue reading »

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