AN NCS PREMIERE: KILLGASM — “REVENGE OF THE PANZERGOAT”

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Apr 102014
 

When I think about metal that delivers unbridled feral explosiveness, two of the genres that come to mind immediately are grindcore and the kind of fast-paced black metal that’s ripping and ravenous. Now, think about combining those two styles of mayhem. That’s what Sacramento’s Killgasm have done on their forthcoming album A Stab In the Heart of Christ. It’s music that will leave you bleeding from all the orifices.

This is the blasphemous trio’s second album, following their 2011 debut Bloodbath of Satanic Vengeance, and an assortment of previous EPs and splits, as well as last year’s single, “High On Church Fumes” (which also appears on the new album). Today, we’re giving you a taste of the rapacious fury that the new album delivers with our premiere of its third track, “Revenge of the Panzergoat”. Continue reading »

THREE KINGS: ENTHRONED, INFESTUS, HORIZON ABLAZE (AND AN NCS PREMIERE)

 Album Reviews, Premieres  8 Responses »
Apr 072014
 

(In one fell swoop, Andy Synn reviews three superb new albums — by Enthroned, Infestus, and Horizon Ablaze — and we bring you the streaming premiere of a song from Horizon Ablaze.)

It may only be early April but 2014 has already produced numerous candidates for my own personal End of Year list/s. And it looks like it’s going to be a very bleak, blackened year indeed.

So, to highlight the wealth of majestic misanthropy that has already appeared this year, I’ve selected three examples of Black Metal at its finest, three albums that richly deserve to be feared and worshipped in their own right, three artists who may yet lay claim to the crooked crown.

Each one has its own allure, its own character, from the uncompromising, to the unknowable, to the unorthodox. Each one has its own voice and style, from the demonic, to the despairing, to the deranged. Yet each one is united by an undercurrent of remorseless passion and refusal to follow the path of others. Each one a visceral, violent, dissonantly melodic and brutally infectious example of blackened musical magick. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WATCH INSOMNIUM’S NEW VIDEO FOR “WHILE WE SLEEP”

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Apr 072014
 

Only three weeks stand between us and the release of Shadows of the Dying Sun, the sixth album by Finland’s Insomnium. It’s both a summing up of where the band have come from and a step ahead, a forward movement that not only embodies the sounds and styles which have drawn increasing numbers of fans to their side but also moves their music in new directions. And as you might guess from that last sentence, it’s a diverse assembly of songs, with some that are faster and heavier than you might expect, and some that are softer. But throughout, the band once ago show their mastery at writing melodies that stay with you.

Shadows of the Dying Sun also marks the first album appearance of the band’s new guitarist Markus Vanhala, who has been a member of Omnium Gatherum throughout their career and has now collaborated with Ville Friman in the songwriting on Shadows.

One new song from the album (“Revelations”) has already debuted, and today we’re delighted to help premiere a second one — “While We Sleep” — and this one comes in the form of a new music video, directed by Dariusz Szermanowicz and produced by Poland’s Grupa 13. Unless we miss our guess, “While We Sleep” is one of the new album’s songs that’s going to get its hooks into listeners’ heads really hard, really fast. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY — “BURNING FROM BOTH ENDS”

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Apr 032014
 

I won’t be surprised if you’re perplexed by the name of this two-man Austrian band — Harakiri For the Sky. It’s cryptic and subject to different interpretations. I also won’t be surprised if you can’t guess, from their name, the nature of the music they make — and in fact it’s hard to pin down with a convenient label. But the music is very much worth hearing, and we’re giving you the chance to discover it for yourself via our premiere of a song named “Burning From Both Ends” that will appear on their forthcoming second album, Aokigahara.

The lilting, chiming guitar introduction to the song provides no preparation for the galvanizing storm that soon breaks. The music of songwriter/instrumentalist M.S. thunders and roars, but dramatic melodies flood the music, as vocalist J.J. (and guest vocalist Torsten of Agrypnie) rage with impassioned, lung-bursting conviction. As heavy as the music is, it swells with emotion and sweeps with windswept power, and the song will get stuck in your head. It’s a melding of black metal and post-rock that’s damned appealing. Continue reading »

FALLS OF RAUROS / PANOPTICON SPLIT: A REVIEW AND AN NCS PREMIERE

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Apr 032014
 

I first learned that Falls of Rauros and Panopticon would be joining forces for a split release back in December 2013, when Panopticon’s Austin Lunn accepted our invitation to write an article about his favorite releases from 2013. It’s a natural pairing. There is, for example, a deep mutual respect between the two bands. Austin Lunn wrote in that same article that Falls of Rauros are his “favorite current American band” and that their forthcoming 2014 full-length (Believe In No Coming Shore) “may be my favorite record ever”, and Falls of Rauros have called Panopticon’s forthcoming album “absolutely massive and stunning on all levels”.

Beyond the respect they have for each other, both bands have earned the respect of both critics and a dedicated following of fans: they are both quintessential American black metal bands, and not just because they happen to be based in Maine and (at least temporarily) Minnesota, respectively. They have successfully incorporated American folk traditions into their powerful and emotionally resonant music, so much so that you could call them American folk metal bands instead of black metal bands and I wouldn’t argue with you.

Yet you may be surprised by what you hear on the new split, as compared the sounds captured on each of the bands’ last albums and on the albums to come. Panopticon’s tracks are unquestionably an homage to Norwegian black metal traditions, while Falls of Rauros have, if anything, brought even more vibrant life and light into their songs. You’ll get a chance to hear both styles of music on display as we premiere one song by each band from this excellent split. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BARBELITH — “REBIRTH”

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Mar 272014
 

Following up on their self-titled 2012 EP, Baltimore’s Barbelith are poised for the release of an untitled two-song 7″ EP by Fragile Branch Recordings. One of the songs (“Caverns of the Mind”) has previously debuted and today we premiere the second track, “Rebirth”.

Barbelith’s dark, genre-bending music as displayed on this new release melds together eerie ambience, black metal vehemence, raw hardcore rage, and shimmering guitar melodies that cross into post-rock territory. The resulting music is bleak and depressive, but quite riveting — and “Rebirth” is a fine summing up of the band’s unusual blend of styles. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND REVIEW): OWL — “INTO THE ABSOLUTE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Mar 272014
 

I discovered Germany’s Owl and their 2013 album You Are the Moon, I Am the Night through a guest post on our site last summer by KevinP. That was Owl’s second album, and I was hugely impressed by it. Now, this two-man band have completed a four-song EP entitled Into the Absolute, and I’m hugely impressed by it as well — so much so that we obtained the privilege of premiering its title track for you.

Owl’s Christian Kolf says that if that last album was drenched in the atmosphere of night, the new EP is “set right before dawn, when the first light appears,” with “a feeling of a new awakening”.  There are in fact moments of beauty in the music, most strikingly in the latter part of the long, stately closing track, “Unearthly Arcana”, but when these moments come, the atmosphere is one of deep melancholy. And if the EP as a whole stands on the brink of dawn, it is nevertheless still very much wrapped in the mantle of night. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INFECTING THE SWARM — “ABERRATED ANTIBIOSIS”

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Mar 262014
 

At this site we focus our attentions on a broad range of metal, but if there is a common thread to all the music, it’s that it exerts a powerful pull on the emotions — and/or the viscera. The subject of this post is a band from Germany named Infecting the Swarm, whose debut album Pathogenesis will be released by Lacerated Enemy Records on May 5. And as you will learn from the new song we’re about to premiere, Infecting the Swarm is coming for your viscera.

The name of the song is “Aberrated Antibiosis”. Your first clue to what it holds lies before you in the album cover by Federico Musetti. Those creatures are humanoid, but not human. They look hungry. They look violent. They yearn for something that may be better left unsaid. All that is true of the song as well. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MORBID FLESH — “EMBEDDED IN THE OSSUARY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Mar 252014
 

Spain’s Morbid Flesh are about to follow up their 2011 debut album Reborn In Death with a new EP — Embedded In the Ossuary — and in cooperation with Germany’s Unholy Prophecies, we’re bringing you a full stream of the EP, right here, right now.

I was already primed to like this EP without hearing a note, based on the grim cover art (by Javi Castaño) and the fact that the band includes members of two other excellent Spanish death metal groups — Graveyard and Insulters. My interest was peaked by the first single from the EP — “Charnel House” — which we featured in this post in February. As it turns out, the rest of the EP fully justifies all those optimistic expectations.

Morbid Flesh have a potent ability to unleash rampaging death metal in the vein of Dismember, Entombed, and Grave, with huge grinding riffs, punishing percussion, spitfire soloing, and cruel, savage vocals — all of which unite to create an atmosphere of dread and menace. But the band bring something more to the table as well. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE — MORDBRAND’S “THAT WHICH CRAWLS” — AND A REVIEW OF “IMAGO”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  6 Responses »
Mar 252014
 

I’ve been waiting eagerly for the time when Sweden’s Mordbrand would release a full album’s worth of songs, and that day is finally approaching. After a string of well-regarded splits and EPs (most of which we’ve praised in reviews on this site), their debut album Imago is projected for release in late April by Deathgasm Records and Doomentia Records. One song from Imago has already premiered, and today we’re sharing with you a second one: “That Which Crawls”.

But first, a review of Imago.

If you’re a Swedish death metal addict, Imago is your fix. It is both steeped in the familiar musical traditions of the genre and enlivened by Mordbrand’s own creative twists and turns. If you think you’ve heard it all before, think again. Listening to Imago is like spending time with an old friend you thought you knew inside and out, and then being surprised by something you hadn’t noticed before. Continue reading »

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