AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SCORDATURA’S “NEUROTIC ABERRATION”

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Jan 062013
 

The world turns, time marches on, and good things from the past rise again.

Scordatura are a five-piece death metal band from Glasgow, Scotland, who we first wrote about early last year in a piece on Scottish metal. They’ve now finished recording their debut album, Torment of the Weak, which is set for on-line release on February 1, 2013, and today we’re pleased to give you an exclusive premiere of the album’s third track, “Neurotic Aberration”.

If you let your mind turn to the idea of a blender filled with scoops of Hate Eternal, Suffocation, Dying Fetus, and Origin, set to puree, then you’ll have an advance idea of “Neurotic Aberration”. Though it may be your brain that gets pureed.

Scordatura twist and turn and slice and dice in a whipping fury of technically oriented brutality. And by “technically oriented”, I don’t mean a flurry of prog-minded note-wanking. I mean the whirring teeth of a meat grinder turning slabs of beef into finely carved tartar. It’s raw, red, and delicious. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ÆTHER REALM — “ONE CHOSEN BY THE GODS”

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Jan 032013
 

We’ve been following North Carolina’s Æther Realm quite closely since discovering their auspicious debut EP Odin Will Provide (2011). At last, the band have completed their first album — One Chosen By the Gods — which is scheduled for release on January 8. And today, we’re pleased to give you an advance listen to the entire album.

But don’t dither around, because this full-album stream will only be up for one day. And as for what we think of the music, it’s very, very good. For a detailed assessment, check out DGR’s review posted a bit earlier today.

To find out more about Æther Realm, visit them on Facebook via this link. To learn how to order the album, go HERE.

Now, do yourself a favor and check out our exclusive premiere of the music right after the jump. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: KRISIUN – “THE WILL TO POTENCY”

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Dec 122012
 

Krisiun’s eighth studio album, The Great Execution, was one of the best death metal albums of 2011. As Phro wrote in our review, “This album goes to war and it doesn’t bother with prisoners or survivors . . . . It’s the distinctive sound of flaming swords and armor crashing as the Morning Star leads his army against the Throne on the Plains of Heaven.” It’s a dynamic, diverse, endlessly listenable album that has lost none of its potency in the year since its release.

Yesterday we kind of made our own music video for the album, matching the song “Blood of Lions” to slow-motion film of one of nature’s most magnificent predators going flat out. Today, we give you the premiere of an official Krisiun video. This time the song is “The Will To Potency”, and this time the predators are those três irmãos from Brazil.

Blending footage from live performances with scenes of the band surrounded by death in the high desert of New Mexico, the imagery of the video matches the supreme bad-assery of the song. Right after a great acoustic guitar intro by guest guitarist Marcello Caminha, “The Will to Potency” starts in the pace of a war march, and then explodes into pure speed and brutality. The roaring vocals shout words of fury and defiance over an epic main riff, and the lead guitar brands the song with fast sweeps and arpeggio picking, raising shades of the band’s debut album, Black Force Domain. The music hunts, and it kills. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FULL ALBUM STREAM OF UNDERCROFT’S “RUINS OF GOMORRAH”

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Oct 092012
 

Roughly a decade has passed since Undercroft left Chile for Northern Europe. Roughly six years have passed since the band’s last studio release, during which time Undercroft’s vocalist and bassist Alvaro Lillo became a live performing member of Watain. But this group has re-grouped, and the blood of their homeland beats in this new album, the band’s sixth since 1995, Ruins of Gomorrah.

Undercroft hook you up like Frankenstein’s monster. They drive those iron bolts into your neck and then bring down the lightning in one super-charged rhythmic blast after another until you just can’t help but jump and bang your helpless head. This is maggot-ridden, old-school death metal that’s so packed full of deep-grooved, beefy riffs and mauling percussion that even rotting flesh could not help but move with the rhythm.

But as much of a riff-monster as this album is, it’s also something more. Listen to “El Triunfo De La Muerte” and “Emplando Al Invasor” and you’ll hear the rhythms of South America in the “tribal” drumming and the melodies, and you’ll even be surprised by brief trumpet notes in the latter track before being engulfed in a decimating explosion of blast beats and huge, grinding riffs. And, holy hell, there are congas and acoustic guitar in the title track. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GRAND SUPREME BLOOD COURT – “PILED UP FOR THE SCAVENGERS”

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Sep 242012
 

Come forward and bow down, for the Grand Supreme Blood Court is in session . . . and their judgment is Death, always Death. The only question is how will the sentence be carried out? The Court is about to answer that question, and based on the song we’re premiering for you today, there will be blood, and pain.

GSBC may be a new band, but it’s packed with Dutch death metal veterans. In addition to three current members of Asphyx — Martin van Drunen (vocals), Bob Bagchus (drums), and Alwin Zuur (guitars) — the band also includes lead guitarist Eric Daniels (a member of Asphyx for the recording of five of the band’s first six albums and now returning to metal after a decade-long hiatus) and bass-player Theo van Eekelen (Hail of Bullets).

The Grand Supreme Death Court’s debut album — Bow Down Before the Blood Court — was mixed by the legendary Dan Swanö (Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath) and it’s scheduled for release by Century Media on November 12 in Europe and November 20 in the U.S. The gruesome album cover was created by Axel Hermann (Asphyx, Grave, Unleashed, etc.).

Lyrically, the debut will be a concept album based on an historical Blood Court that actually existed, though the details have yet to be revealed. Today we have the first taste of the music — “Piled Up For the Scavengers”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ARSAFES – “.onslaught.čoček.”

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Sep 092012
 

Moscow-based Roman “Arsafes” Iskorostenskiy is one of those uncommon musicians whose creative impulses are multifaceted and who has the talent to follow them with remarkable success, despite how divergent they are.

We first became aware of him through the striking music of his Indian-influenced melodic death metal band Kartikeya, about which much has been written here at NCS. Later, we discovered his involvement with a Russian pagan-metal band called Nevid (Невидь), which has produced four full-length albums, the most of recent of which is 2011′s Agarta, (discussed here). Most recently, he has also collaborated with singer Aleksandra Radosavljevic (ex-Destiny Potato) to create an “Atmospheric/Ambient/Progressive Metal” project named Above the Earth, who we featured here and whose debut EP is coming soon.

But in addition to all that, Roman also has an ongoing solo project named Arsafes. The first work of the Arsafes project was a solo EP called A New Way of Creation that appeared in 2010. We wrote about that here and in that same post provided a link for a free download of the EP.

Now, the Arsafes project has a new album in the works, which with luck will be ready before the end of the year — and today we are giving you the exclusive premiere of its first single, “.onslaught.čoček.”, which is now available on Bandcamp. It features performances not only by Arsafes, but also by drummer extraordinaire Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork, The Devin Townsend Project, etc.), David Maxim Micic (guitar) and  Bojan Kvocka (bass) of Destiny Potato, and Fedor Vetrov (viola) (Veter Vodi, Nevid), as well as a cameo appearence by the above-mentioned Ms. Radosavljevic.

And if you’ve heard the first Arsafes EP, what you are about to hear is something very different, and it’s very, very good. Continue reading »

AN NCS SONG PREMIERE: ACRANIA – “SUSCEPTIBLE TO RETINAL BASED REPROGRAMMABILITY”

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Sep 082012
 

Introducing people to new music from the underground and eye-catching cover art are two of the things we enjoy most at this site, and today we get to do both. Acrania are a band from southeast UK who are on the verge of releasing a split (Galactic Infections) with California’s Blue Waffle, and today we give you the exclusive premiere of Acrania’s contribution to the split: “Susceptible To Retinal Based Reprogrammability”.

Yes, that song title is a mouthful. The music is also a brutish slug in the mouth — and a flurry of heavy-booted kicks to the head. Acrania inflict severe bodily damage with slamming rhythms, a seething hive of buzzing riffage, rapid-fire percussion, and vocals that span the range from grisly gurgling to unhinged shrieking. It’s brutal, but it’s also groovy. You may feel inclined to bust up your abode while you listen, but you can bang your head while you take the sledgehammer to your walls.

As you can see, Acrania and Blue Waffle also have good taste in art. The cover for their new split is graced by the grisly renderings of Ken Sarafin of Sarafin Concepts, whose work we’ve featured at NCS more than once (check out these posts, for example). Acrania also have a debut EP in the works that will feature cover art by NCS favorite Pär Olofsson, and you can take a look at that after the jump.

But first, get some demolition tools ready and check out “Susceptible To Retinal Based Reprogrammability” . . . Continue reading »

AN NCS SONG PREMIERE: NYLITHIA – “HYPERTHRASH”

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Sep 072012
 

What do you get when you combine blazing speed, mind-blowing intricacy, head-slapping grooves, and creative song construction? You get Hyperthrash. More specifically, you get the latest single from the thoroughly entertaining Nylithia, which we are delighted to premiere for you today.

We first came across this Vancouver/Langley-based band through a recommendation from an NCS reader back in March and included a feature on them in one of our MISCELLANY posts. They are in the midst of a project that’s somewhat unusual in the current scene: They’ve been periodically releasing one song at a time, beginning with a premiere of the song (Metal Sucks debuted the last one) and following that with a month-long free download of the track on Bandcamp, after which it becomes available as a “pay what you want” download.

Each song comes with its own distinctive hand-drawn artwork by Ryan “Humanburger” Jones. And on top of all that, the band have been releasing sweet music videos for each track — and those have been racking up a slug of hits on YouTube.

Eventually, all of the singles will be combined into an album — Hyperthrash — and we hear that when all of the singles have been released and the album is thus complete, it will be made available on vinyl with a booklet containing all the artwork, as well as released in CD format.

But that’s all in the future, because the single we’re premiering today is only the fourth track to be released so far, and more are coming. However, the song we have for you today is nothing less than the album’s title track — and man, fair warning: “Hyperthrash” will blow out your circuits. All of them. Continue reading »

OAK PANTHEON: “FROM A WHISPER” (A REVIEW AND A SONG PREMIERE)

 Album Reviews, Premieres  15 Responses »
Aug 272012
 

Our relationship with Oak Pantheon goes back to a post I wrote in June 2011 about three new bands I’d come across who had less than 100 Facebook “likes”, but whose music I thought was really worth hearing. At that time, Oak Pantheon had officially premiered only one song, “In the Dead of Winter Night”, but it made a strong impression. When the band’s first EP, The Void, appeared not long after, it confirmed that “In the Dead of Winter Night” was no fluke; Oak Pantheon were a band to watch closely.

Now Oak Pantheon are less than a month away from release of their debut album, From A Whisper. In short order, it has become one of my favorite releases of 2012. As much as I enjoyed The Void, the album represents a big step up in the quality and sophistication of the songwriting, and the performances of this Minneapolis duo are truly excellent from beginning to end. The music is also quite varied, drawing together multi-faceted strands of metal (and non-metal) into more than 60 minutes of music that resists simplified genre classification.

At the end of this review, we’ll be premiering a song from the album that demonstrates how far Oak Pantheon have come in a very short time. It’s called . . . “It” . . . and like the rest of the album, it’s remarkably good.

The Void drew frequent comparisons with the musical style of Agalloch, and the influence of that band’s fusion of neo-folk and black metal is still in evidence on From A Whisper. The opening track, “Descend Into Winter”, is a prime example. The song combines memorable melodies, carried by layered guitars and piercing leads, with hard-driving rhythms, and this time Oak Pantheon have even incorporated emotionally subdued clean vocals (by Tanner Swenson) in much the way Agalloch do, creating an effective contrast with the harsh, mid-ranged rasps of Sami Sati. Continue reading »

AN NCS FULL-ALBUM PREMIERE: “MOMENTS” BY STEALING AXION

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Aug 242012
 

We’ve been watching the rise of Tacoma’s Stealing Axion since first hearing their sweet 2010 self-titled EP (reviewed at NCS here). Now the band are on the verge of seeing the release of their full-length debut by Inside Out Music and Century Media. Entitled Moments, the album will hit the streets on August 28 in the U.S. and a day earlier in Europe — and we’re giving you a stream of the entire work beginning today.

Stealing Axion join together a variety of musical components — off-kilter, jack-hammering rhythms; intricate and often mesmerizing guitar performances; memorable, beautiful melodies; and an effective contrast between abrasive, harsh vocals and clean, clear singing that echoes and soars. (And for those newcomers to the site, despite our name we do make exceptions when the metal is as good as what’s on Moments.)

The music weaves together brute-force aggressiveness, higher-order complexity, and shimmering atmospherics, delivering a blend of piston-driven body-movers and progressive stylings that send the mind surfing on astral waves. The songwriting is excellent, and the musical performances are all top-shelf. The album was mixed and mastered by TesseracT guitarist/producer Acle Kahney, and it sounds fantastic, producing the clarity and separation that best suits this kind of progressive, technically demanding music.

Moments is a long, ambitious work that demands serious attention, but it’s also a hell of a lot of fun to hear. Fans of bands such as Textures should find it especially appealing, but we recommend that every devotee of metal give this a try. The stream begins next . . .  Continue reading »

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