AN NCS PREMIERE: DEATHKINGS — “MARTYRS (VOL I)”

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May 222014
 

Deathkings are from Los Angeles but you wouldn’t know it to hear their music. Surf, sunshine, and palm trees don’t enter into it. The local landmark that probably best suits the music’s atmosphere are the tar pits at La Brea.

Deathkings recorded their debut album Destroyer in 2011. It originally consisted of three long tracks, each song in the 10-15 minute range. The album has now been re-mastered for a vinyl release by LA-based Midnite Collective, with those three tracks converted into four. Today we’re premiering “Martyrs (Vol. I)”, which was originally part of one of the original long tracks that has now been divided.

The riffs in the song are thick, fuzz-bombed, tarry beasts that generate the kind of resonance you feel in your guts. They pound, hammer, and writhe in a mid-paced rhythm, and together with the crushing drum beats, they’ll make your head move. Vocalist Nicholas Rocha sounds like he’s in the throes of genuine agony, driving home the bleak, blasted atmosphere of this strangely seductive music. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: HOUR OF PENANCE — “THEOGONY”

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May 202014
 

You would be hard-pressed to find another 2014 album more packed with super-heated fury than Regicide, the new album by Italy’s Hour of Penance. To borrow the words of our reviewer Andy Synn, it’s “utterly destructive”, loaded with a “wealth of punishing riffage, bloody hooks, and concentrated venom”, but with “subtle refinements and embellishments that the band have made to their familiar formula, tiny tweaks designed to increase its lethal virulence without compromising the ferocious core of their identity.”

In June, North American audiences will get a chance to see Hour of Penance decimate cities across the U.S. and Canada when the band embark on the Conquerors of the World tour with Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Necronomicon. Today you can get a preview of the band’s potent live show through our premiere of the official Hour of Penance video for “Theogony”, which was filmed live at their recent headlining gig in Wakefield, England. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: A SPLIT BY BENCHPRESS AND MARTYR’S TONGUE

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May 162014
 

It’s time for audio mauling, with flair, as we bring you music from two metal-weighted hardcore bands who’ll slug you in the mouth and then kick you in the cojones before you have time to pick up your teeth.

The bands are Benchpress from Lewiston, Pennsylvania, and Martyr’s Tongue from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Get This Right Records has just released a split 7″ that includes two songs from each band. We’re premiering streams of all four songs after a brief introduction.

BENCHPRESS

As the band’s name signifies, the original members apparently came together with the tongue-in-cheek idea of making “beatdown anthems for gym-rats”, but the two songs on the new split aren’t joking around. “Penance” and “Pissed Away” rocket through the bloodstream in about six minutes. They inflict the punishment with thick, rebar-strength riffs delivered in both flashing jabs and brutal hammer blows, with squalling feedback leading to thunderous breakdowns. And you can feel the vocalist’s jugular veins coming apart violently as he vents his venom. Merciless and heavy-grooved, these tracks will make your bad moods murderous. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: TORRID HUSK — “CUT WITH RAIN”

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May 142014
 

For an unpaid blog created by a small group of people on a part-time basis, I think we do a fair job of covering new releases across a broad spectrum of metal. But more metal is being created today than ever before, and we miss out on a lot of albums, EPs, and splits that deserve attention. Torrid Husk’s Caesious is a prime example.

Caesious is a three-song EP released in February of this year by Grimoire Records, and it was this West Virginia band’s second collection of music, following their 2013 debut album Mingo (yeah, we missed that one, too). It drew very favorable (and well-written) reviews from sites such as Metal Bandcamp and Invisible Oranges, but I still overlooked it. Fortunately, I’ve been given a chance to make amends by premiering the official video for one of the excellent songs on Caesious — “Cut With Rain”.

The video was directed and filmed by Tyler Davis (who is also the vocalist and guitarist for Maryland’s Barbelith) in the woods near Martinsburg, West Virginia, not far from the cabin where Caesious was recorded. It’s a beautiful setting, and the video is beautifully made. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: A FULL ALBUM STREAM OF MIASMAL’S “CURSED REDEEMER”

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May 122014
 


From the first seconds of the first song on Cursed Redeemer, Sweden’s Miasmal rip the door open on a death metal blast furnace, and the conflagration doesn’t diminish (much) from then until the album’s final notes. It’s an adrenaline rush that also happens to be adroitly composed and performed with top-shelf skill, and we’re damned happy to bring you a stream of the whole scorching thing, right here, right now, on the day before its US release.

Miasmal (who include two members of the excellent Agrimonia) call Gothenburg home, but don’t be fooled by the geography: This isn’t melodic death metal (though the songs do include a slew of memorable melodic hooks), and it’s not predominantly gore-drenched or doom-driven death metal either.

If you’re familiar with the history of death metal in Sweden, then you know that it was influenced in its early development more by punk and d-beat hardcore than the scene in the U.S., and that comes through loud and clear in Cursed Redeemer. But these dudes also know how to kick out some mighty galvanizing thrash licks, too. And they also deliver blunt-force trauma with convincing enthusiasm. Continue reading »

JUST BEFORE DAWN: “COUNTERBATTERY”

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May 072014
 

Early last month we were stoked to break a bunch of news (here) about the new album (The Aftermath) by Sweden’s Just Before Dawn and to bring you sample music from two of the album’s songs. Today, we’re equally stoked to introduce your ears to a new free single that JBD are introducing to tide fans over until The Aftermath becomes available. The new song is named “Counterbattery”.

In case you’re just hearing about JBD despite how often I’ve written about them, this is the project of musician Anders Biazzi (Blood Mortized), who in addition to being a talented songwriter, guitarist, and bass-player, must also have a silver tongue — because he always seems to succeed in assembling a stellar line-up of vocalists and guitar soloists for JBD’s albums. He’s succeeded again on “Counterbattery”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ZGARD — “UNDERWORLD BELLS”

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May 072014
 

Zgard is the one-man project of western Ukrainian musician Yaromisl; the name refers to an amulet in the culture of the Huzuls, an ethno-cultural group who for centuries have inhabited the Carpathian mountains, and Carpathian folklore has been a strong inspiration in the music of Zgard. The band’s fourth album has now been completed under the name Contemplation, and it’s scheduled for release by Svarga Music on June 23, 2014. Today we bring you the premiere of the album’s closing track, “Underworld Bells” [Дзвін потойбіччя].

Contemplation has been my first exposure to the music of Zgard, and “Underworld Bells” exemplifies much of what makes the album as a whole so captivating. Like almost all the tracks, it’s a long song, running almost 11 minutes, and yet I’m betting your interest won’t flag in the least as it pulls you into its epic atmosphere. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SEPTICFLESH — “BURN”

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May 072014
 

As we’ve been faithfully reporting for months, the Greek symphonic death metal titans Septicflesh have a new album fittingly named Titan that’s coming our way in North America via Prosthetic Records (June 24). We’ve previously featured the first advance track from the album (“Order of Dracul”), and today we have the pleasure of helping premiere a second song named “Burn”.

The name is well-chosen, because the song does indeed burn. Blazing tremolo riffs blacken the music and turn it into a ripping assault. But that’s just for starters. The song also includes a massively headbangable stomping riff — as well as a beautiful soaring melody spun out like glistening gossamer by lead guitar and symphony. It’s a hell of a song. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ORUGA — “HERETICS”

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May 052014
 

Following a 2010 demo (Blitzkrieg Lady) and a self-titled 2011 EP, the French band Oruga are on the verge of seeing release of their debut album, Blackened Souls, via Apathia Records. A video clip for one track (“Ghosts of Anneliese”) premiered last month, and today we bring you a second offering with our premiere of the album’s opening onslaught, “Heretics”.

Blackened Souls was recorded “live in the studio”, and that was the right move. The music itself is like a raw and ravaged abrasion, and the immediacy of the performance comes through vibrantly in the recording.

“Heretics” begins with spoken words over the vibration of massive, groaning chords that lumber like a great beast dragging its way to a final resting place. The voice howls with wounded conviction, the staggering riffs hit with bone-shattering force, the drum beats slam like a sledge, and a dense of atmosphere of despondency settles like the mantle of night. Continue reading »

AN NCS DUAL-SONG PREMIERE: INFIRMARY AND AETHERIUM MORS

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May 012014
 

On May 15, Eihwaz Recordings (a sub-label of Bindrune Recordings) will release an unusual split by West Virginia’s Infirmary and UK-based Aetherium Mors: The split really consists of a full four-track EP by each band. Two songs from the split have previously debuted (here), and today we bring you two more — one from each of the bands.

INFIRMARY

Infirmary are a West Virginia duo consisting of guitarist/vocalist Aaron Carey (Nechochwen, Unwilling Flesh) and bassist/drummer Andrew D’Cagna (Nechochwen, Obsequiae, Brimstone Coven, Unwilling Flesh). Their EP included in this split is entitled Suffering For Eternity.

If you’re familiar with the other bands of Infirmary’s line-up, you may not be prepared for the devastation they unleash under the Infirmary name — but you will become educated when you hear our premiere of “Forced Into the Flames”, which is the first track on this striking split. Continue reading »

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