AN NCS PREMIERE: AMIENSUS — “ONE IN SPIRIT” (AND A TOUR UPDATE)

 Premieres  13 Responses »
Jun 232015
 

 

In the wake of Amiensus‘ excellent 2013 debut album Restoration, their split that same year with Oak Pantheon entitled Gathering, and their cover of Forefather’s “Wolfhead’s Tree” last fall, the band’s new album Ascension has become one of our most highly anticipated of 2015.  In May we had the pleasure of bringing you the premiere of the album’s first single (“What Worlds Create”) and today we bring you a second one: “One In Spirit” — and an update about the band’s forthcoming tour.

“One In Spirit” displays the band’s talent for uniting sublime melodies with hammering riffs and rhythms that get the blood pumping fast and hard. The pairing of clean, soaring vocals and harsh growls symbolizes that joinder of beauty and the beast, as does the integration of an acoustic interlude side-by-side with a charging gallop of jolting riffs and driving percussion, and the contrast of a mesmerizing guitar solo gliding over heavy, booming bass notes. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AIRLINES OF TERROR — “PEDOPHILIAC SKYJACKING”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 222015
 

 

If you’ve been keeping a count, then you know this is our third premiere of a song from Terror From the Air, the new album by Italy’s Airlines of Terror. In mid-May, we rolled out the first single from the new album, “U.F.O.=Tesla” (here) and then about two weeks ago we brought you the title track (here). Now, we deliver unto your vulnerable ears a video for the album’s third track, “Pedophiliac Skyjacking“.

And why, you may ask yourselves, have we been giving this band so much attention? Well, duh, because this album is an unholy onslaught of high-grade death metal romping and slaughtering! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND AN INTERVIEW): KHEMMIS — “ASH, CINDER, SMOKE”

 Interviews, Premieres  21 Responses »
Jun 222015
 

 

I don’t have a crystal ball, just some experience and a willingness to make guesses, but my prediction is that with a little word of mouth and the increasing exposure of their music, Denver-based Khemmis are going to blow up. They’re excellent songwriters, they’re accomplished musicians, they pour their souls into their music — and their music is righteous. They also have a tube-assisted wizard for a mascot.

In the wide-ranging interview that accompanies the song we’re about to premiere from their debut album, “Ash, Cinder, Smoke“, I unfairly asked the band if they could sum up their sound and style in a paragraph or less for people new to their music. They did it in six words — “Like a doom metal Iron Maiden.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NACHTTERROR — “THE BREATH OF THE WORLD ABLAZE”

 Premieres  10 Responses »
Jun 182015
 

 

In July 2015, Hypnotic Dirge Records will release a split album by two Saskatchewan-based blackened doom metal bands — Nachtterror and Altars of Grief — which becomes available for pre-order today. The album is entitled Of Ash and Dying Light, and we’re giving you a taste of what it holds in store through our premiere of a Nachtterror track named “The Breath of the World Ablaze“.

Established in 2004, Nachtterror have previously released two EPs, 2008’s The Funeral of Man and 2012’s Beneath the Crimson Moon, and they’re currently at work on a debut album named Judgement. The vinyl version of this new split includes two songs by the band — the one we’re premiering today plus “Upon Ashen Shores”. In addition, the digital version of the album includes two bonus Nachtterror tracks (all vinyl orders will receive an automatic e-mail with the bonus tracks). Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: TEMPLE OF GNOSIS — “MYSTERIVM MAGNVM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  4 Responses »
Jun 152015
 

 

Ten days ago, during one of my MISCELLANY excursions, I came across a just-released EP entitled Mysterivm Magnvm by a one-man project from Serbia named Temple of Gnosis. At that point I only wrote about one song from the album — its title track —  and not long after, the stream of the EP disappeared into the mists. But today we’ve got the pleasure of bringing you the resurrection of that stream as we premiere the entire EP.

Temple of Gnosis is the creation of someone who calls himself H.M.T., and Mysterivm Magnvm is the project’s debut EP. It’s being released by Goathorned Productions and it’s described as a concept work based on the “alchemical process of Enlightenment”, and specifically on the initial step of “deconstruction” along the path toward “transformation of mind and spirit”: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GRUESOME — “GRUESOME”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Jun 112015
 

 

Given the amount of hype that the debut album by Gruesome has received both before and since its official release by Relapse Records in April, neither the band nor the album (Savage Land) may need an introduction. Yet the whole point of premieres like the one we’re about to bring you is the off-chance that someone out there may not yet have gotten the memo.

For those who are just discovering Gruesome, they’re a talented collection of artists who’ve honed their chops in many other groups, including Exhumed, Malevolent Creation, Possessed, and Derketa. And the album is an unabashed homage to the music of Chuck Schuldiner and Death.

What we’ve got for you today is an official lyric video for a song from Savage Land that shares its name with the band — “Gruesome”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AMBASSADOR GUN — “INVADERS”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Jun 112015
 

 

My how time flies. The last time the name Ambassador Gun appeared on our site was more than two years ago, when we praised some of the music from their 2012 Prosthetic Records release Golden Eagle. Now, finally, this Minneapolis band have come roaring back with a new full-length named Tomb of Broken Sleep set for release this summer, and we’ve got one of the new tracks for you — a monster named “Invaders”.

There’s a reason for that blurred, fanged muzzle on the cover of the new album. You’ll figure it out pretty damned quick when you let “Invaders” loose in your head. It’s a hybrid barrage of death/grind/crust propelled by riffs so monstrously beefy that they’ll vibrate your teeth and by bass-and-drum blows that go off like warheads. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KRONOS — “KLYMENOS UNDERWRATH”

 Premieres  7 Responses »
Jun 102015
 

 

Is it possible? Could the music on Arisen New Era be as stunning as the cover art? It might not seem possible, if you weren’t already familiar with Kronos. But those who are familiar with the three widely praised albums they’ve released so far know that this French band are quite capable of matching the sheer gob-smacking splendor of this artwork for their fourth one. The question is, have they done so? You’re about to find out, because we’re bringing you the premiere of a lyric video for the new album’s first advance track: “Klymenos Underwrath“.

The new song is a hallmark of what Kronos do so well — delivering torrential, brutalizing death metal with an almost tangible physical power while also crafting memorable melodies that flow through the surrounding carnage like shining waters through a conflagration. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BRAQUEMAARD — “FONDEMENTS”

 Premieres  9 Responses »
Jun 102015
 

 

The French band Braquemaard have completed work on their debut album, Pendu, traîné par une claie jusqu’à la potence, et mis en quart (“hang, drawn, and quartered”) and it will be released on CD by Antiq Records later this year. To introduce the band to you, and to give you an example of what the album will be bringing our way, we give you the premiere of a song named “Fondements“.

I have a feeling that a certain segment of our readers are going to eat this up, and that another percentage (probably larger) will run from it like forest animals in the path of a conflagration. And “conflagration” isn’t a bad way to describe the music either. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TEMPLE OF DAGON — “REVELATIONS OF THE SPIRIT”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  6 Responses »
Jun 092015
 

 

I’m going to apologize in advance for a potential excess of enthusiasm about the new EP by Temple of Dagon that we’re about to premiere, but I can’t help myself and there’s no one here to stop me.

Revelations of the Spirit is one of the heaviest and most electrifying things I’ve heard all year. The riffs are massive. The guitar leads are infectious. The bass lines are pavement-cracking. The drum blows are spine-shaking. The vocals are raw and ravenous. The music is both savage and scintillating, fusing elements from a variety of genres, from crust/punk to thrash to concussive Bolt Thrower-style death metal. It’s a paragon of head-wrecking metal. Continue reading »

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