AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: CORPSE GARDEN’S “ENTHEOGEN” (WITH AN INTERVIEW)

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May 082015
 

 

We’ve got a double-feature in this post. First, we bring you the premiere of a full-album stream for the second album by Costa Rica’s Corpse Garden — Entheogen — which is due for release on May 15 by Satanath Records and RTM Productions. And second, we have an interview with the band’s vocalist Felipe Tencio, who provides insights into the subject matter of the songs and the changes in the band’s sound since their debut full-length in 2012.

For those of you who are familiar with that debut album, Burnt By the Light, you’re in for some surprises. Entheogen (named for a chemical substance used in certain religious, shamanic, and spiritual practices) is a savage death metal assault, loaded with dark, vicious riffs, jolting grooves, exotic melodies, electrifying solo work, and horrific roars and shrieks. Though the tempo of the 13 songs on the album varies from fleet, furious rampages to grim, mid-paced barrages, to shimmering psychoactive dreams, the overall atmosphere of the album is ominous and occult, and the production of the music gives it the sensation of overwhelming power. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEMIURGON — “PILLARS OF INVERTED CREATION”

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May 082015
 

 

Back in March I discovered a new lyric video for a song called “Rex Mundi” by Italy’s Demiurgon that knocked me flat, and today we have the pleasure of bringing you another new song from the band — “Pillars of Inverted Creation”.

The song appears on Demiurgon’s debut album Above the Unworthy, which was mixed and mastered at 16th Cellar Studios by the masterful Stefano Morabito and it features cover art by the masterful Pär Oloffson. It will be released by Ungodly Ruins Production on May 31, 2015. And this song will knock you flat, too. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SHAPE OF DESPAIR — “DESCENDING INNER NIGHT”

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May 062015
 

 

A decade has passed since the long-running Finnish funeral doom band Shape of Despair released their last album, 2004’s Illusion’s Play. Finally, they have emerged again with a new full-length work entitled Monotony Fields, which will be released by Season of Mist on June 16 in North America. The title track has already premiered at Decibel, and now we bring you another — “Descending Inner Night”.

The band have commented as follows about this new song:

“We have played this song under its working title ‘Unresolved’ only in the Ukraine and Russia so far. To complement the existing live recordings, we are now presenting the album version ‘Descending Inner Night’. This was the second track that emerged for the new album and combines both the old and new elements of Shape of Despair.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY — “STARLIGHT OBLIVION”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  6 Responses »
May 062015
 

 

At the very end of last year we had the pleasure of premiering “Hunter of the Celestial Sea”, an advance song from the new album by Australia’s Midnight Odyssey, Shards of Silver Fade, and today we’re equally delighted to bring you another. What you’re about to hear is “Starlight Oblivion“. It will require more than the usual amount of your time for a single song, but the time you invest will be repaid with handsome dividends. And I can pretty much guarantee that you won’t emerge from the experience in the same frame of mind and mood as when you begin the journey.

The song is more than 18 minutes long, one of eight in a double-album release that includes more than 2 hours and 20 minutes of music. It fully merits the adjective “immersive”. It’s a sweeping celestial voyage of shimmering ambient sounds, galvanizing rhythms, melodies that tug at the heart, and an array of vocal expressions that are all mesmerizing. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: POSSESSION — “CEREMONY”

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May 052015
 

 

“Belgium’s Possession are moving from strength to hideous strength. They began precociously with their 2013 demo (His Best Deceit), took forward steps with their 2014 EP (Anneliese — reviewed here), and have made even more progress with their second EP, 1585-1646. Equal parts morbidly atmospheric and  rifftastically raging, it’s an unholy union of black, death, and thrash metal that’s well worth adding to your musical arsenal.”

And that’s how I began my review of 1585-1646 in the middle of last month. I heaped more words of praise on top of this blazing pyre of music, but the main point of this post isn’t to see my own words again (no matter how thrilling that may be), it’s to let you hear another new song from this EP.  Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE DEAD GOATS — “DON’T GO IN THE TOMB”

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May 052015
 

 

About 10 days ago I enthusiastically praised a new EP entitled Don’t Go In the Tomb by a Polish band named The Dead Goats, and today I have the pleasure of bringing you a full stream of the EP.

I’ll resist the urge to just re-print every word from my review, and tell you this instead: This EP doesn’t wear out its welcome. I’ve found myself going back to it repeatedly since first hearing it. It’s become my new-found fix when I’m in the need for a jolt of high-energy rampaging, accompanied by the sweet tones of chainsaw guitar and skin-flaying vocals. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WITHIN DESTRUCTION — “CARNAGE”

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May 042015
 

 

The Slovenian death metal band Within Destruction released their debut album From the Depths in 2012, and they’re now at work on their second full-length. But while work on the album proceeds, tomorrow they will be releasing a new single entitled “Carnage“, and today we’ve got for you the premiere of the song along with a music video.

In a nutshell, “Carnage” is just a hell of a lot of fun. It also raises a lot of hell. It’s loaded with gut-punching percussion; thunderous grooves; swarming riffs; and an effusion of hair-raising shrieks and growls. There’s even a melancholy, serpentine melody to go along with some headbangable, mosh-triggering breakdowns.

If you’re the sedentary sort, this high-energy music may not suit you — or maybe it’s just what you need — because it’s tough to sit still while it runs rampant through your head. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABSCONDITUS — “ELEGEÍA (CONFESSION AU CÉNOTAPHE)”

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May 042015
 

 

We’ve come to depend on I, Voidhanger Records as a source of unusually interesting releases, a label that continually forms partnerships with talented bands whose music is far off the usual beaten paths. The label’s latest discovery is a French band named Absconditus, whose debut album Kατάβασις is now scheduled for release on June 8, with eye-catching cover art by UK talent Bethany White. Today we have the pleasure of bringing you a sample of what Absconditus have created, through our premiere of the album’s third track, “Elegeía (Confession au Cénotaphe)“.

I’ve seen the word “ritualistic” used to describe certain kinds of black metal, and I’ve used the word myself, without ever trying to form a clear mental definition of what it means. There are passages in this new song that bring the word to mind — segments of music that are slow, solemn, and surrounded by an aura of initiation and mystery. Those segments are themselves massively heavy, ominous, and dissonant, with a liturgy voiced by what sounds like a demonic beast. But this is only a part of this long song.

The music also includes movements of ravaging ferocity and power, with booming bass lines that shake the earth, the frenzied writhing of riffs and arpeggios that make a virtue of discordance, and a searing guitar solo. The music is unsettling, but brilliantly inventive and thoroughly engrossing. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: UNKURED — “MUTATED EARTH”

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May 042015
 

 

The Ohio triumvirate known as UnKured self-released their second album Mutated Earth in limited distribution last fall, but since then Sliptrick Records signed the band and are giving the album the worldwide release it deserves. Beginning tomorrow, the album will also become available for digital acquisition via Bandcamp. But today — today you will have the chance to hear the album on this very site, in this very post, and discover for yourselves what it has to offer.

And what it has to offer is an invasion from extraterrestrial forces bent on seizing control of the neurons in the pleasure centers of your brain — and burning out all the rest.

You could say that UnKured are a thrash band, but that would be like saying a cheetah is a cat. It’s true, but it doesn’t tell you nearly enough about what’s coming after you. The music is fast as greased lightning and just as electrifying. It’s fueled by a flurry of constantly changing riffs and a pinpoint rhythm section. The technical skill of all the performers is genuinely impressive, and there’s a flesh-scraping howler behind the mic. But that still doesn’t tell you enough. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PANZERBASTARD AND RAWHIDE — SONGS FROM “BLACK HEARTS AND WHITE LINES”

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May 012015
 

 

Unholy Anarchy Records and Anvileater Records will soon be releasing a 7″ split by two proven head-wreckers: Boston’s PanzerBastard and Sweden’s Rawhide. Entitled Black Hearts and White Lines, it’s got more energy in its five tracks than a municipal power plant pushed to the edge of a blackout. I was offered the chance to premiere one track of my choosing from each band’s contributions to the split. Picking just one turned out to be hard as hell, because everything on Black Hearts kicks ass — but this is the kind of problem I’d love to have every day of the week.

PANZERBASTARD: “THE GRAND BARGAIN”

PanzerBastard have been cranking out demos, splits, and EPs since 2006, and this new release includes three more explosive blasts of mayhem. The track I picked for this premiere is “The Grand Bargain”. It’s a jolting rampage of punk-fueled metal that shifts into a lower gear before it’s over, hitting a groove that’s guaranteed to get heads moving while hosing you down with a bit of napalm shred at the same time. Hot shit. Continue reading »

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