AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A FREE DOWNLOAD): HELRUNAR — “DEVILS, DEVILS EVERYWHERE”

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Jan 222015
 

Lupus Lounge (a division of Prophecy Productions) has announced that on February 27 in Europe and March 3 in North America it will release the new album by Germany’s Helrunar — Niederkunfft. Today we bring you not only a premiere of one of the new songs — “Devils, Devils Everywhere” — but also a chance to download the song for free.

The new album marks a change for Helrunar, both in their lyrical focus and in their sound. Conceptually, the new album addresses historical subjects, described as the narrative of “European people on the threshold between the Middle Ages and modern times, surrounded by superstition and fear, torn between religion and the Enlightenment”.

Musically, the Helrunar duo have also branched out from their pagan black metal roots, and “Devils, Devils Everywhere” is a good introduction to the way in which they have incorporated new elements. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HEAVING EARTH — “JESUS DIED”

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Jan 212015
 

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song by the Czech metal band Heaving Earth.)

The Czech Republic has been churning out plenty of killer metal bands for a long time now. One can only speculate as to why, but that’s not really pertinent, so let’s move along. I thought that I had explored every nook and cranny of their metal scene, and yet alas, I somehow entirely missed out on Heaving Earth. It only took one early-released song sent to my inbox from a PR firm,“Doomed Before Inception”, to hook me in and become eager for their soon-to-be-released record, Denouncing The Holy Throne.

While their band name comes from the Morbid Angel song of the same name, and the band is indeed certainly steeped in early death metal influences, they come across with a sound all their own. Boatloads of killer serrated riffs are an integral part of the Heaving Earth experience, yet it’s their subtly erratic nature, off-kilter hairpin turns, and mountain-sized heaviness that keeps me coming back. That, and the way they come across as very dark and foreboding, very much in the mood and feeling that some of the most fucked-up and disturbing black metal channel so well. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SCARS DIVIDE — “ALL THAT WE NEED”

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Jan 202015
 

 

Scars Divide are a Swiss band whose self-titled debut EP was released by Tenacity Music roughly 11 months ago. Today we bring you the premiere of a video for its opening track, “All That We Need”. And it’s a reminder that apart from the entertainment that well-made videos provide, they can also serve as an introduction to excellent music that some folks might have overlooked when it was initially released.

Which is an indirect way of saying that I missed the EP when it came out — and now I’m glad that I found it, thanks to this video. I hope you’ll feel the same way after you see and hear it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HEIRESS — “DISMALIST”

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Jan 162015
 

At the bottom of this post you’ll find the premiere of a fantastic new song by Seattle’s Heiress. I wouldn’t blame you one bit if you just skipped to the end and started listening. But whether you do that or plod through the words I feel compelled to write, by all means — listen to the song!

Nowadays, I try to stay on top of new metal, without letting grass grow under my feet. It wasn’t always that way. I moved to Seattle from Texas in 1995. I barely listened to metal back then; grunge was the rage in my new hometown, and I got caught up in that. Himsa didn’t come out with their debut album until four years later, and I still didn’t discover them until years after that. But when I did, it made an enormous impact on me as a fledgling metal fan. I still mourn the passing of that band.

Even though I now try to stay on top of things in a more timely way, I still didn’t completely tumble to Heiress until I saw them perform live last year. I don’t know why it took me so fucking long, especially since Himsa’s ex-vocalist (and a fixture in Seattle’s heavy music scene) John Pettibone fronts Heiress. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NEOLITH — “OF THE ANGEL AND HIS ORISON”

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Jan 132015
 

About one week ago we included in one of our “round-ups” of new music a teaser video for a new album coming from Non Serviam Records by a Polish blackened death metal band named Neolith. At that time we noted the label’s announcement that a full song would be online soon. And sure enough, the full song is now here — and we’re bringing it to you!

The name of this new song is “Of Angel and His Orison” and it’s drawn from Neolith’s fourth studio album, Izi.Im.Kurnu-Ki.

The phrase “blackened death metal” isn’t terribly precise as a genre label; it covers a multitude of different sounds. What you will here in this song is completely electrifying. That’s not terribly precise either, so allow me to elaborate. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VIVUS HUMARE — “DER SCHMERZ WECKT”

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Jan 132015
 

 

The German black metal band Vivus Humare came together in 2007 and released their first demo, Prolog, in 2008. Now, the Eisenwald label is on the brink of releasing the band’s debut album, a five-track work entitled Einkehr. Today we bring you the premiere of the album’s opening song, “Der Schmerz weckt”.

Einkehr is an album that is best heard in a single sitting, from start to finish, uninterrupted. It’s a dynamic and atmospheric work that works the listener’s moods like clay in the hands of a craftsman, and its achievements aren’t fully realized until the entire process has run its course and reached its final, finished form.

Having said that, “Der Schmerz Weckt” is also a very strong stand-alone track that in itself reflects the dynamism and atmospheric power of the album as a whole. Continue reading »

AN NCS FULL-ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ARCHGOAT — “THE APOCALYPTIC TRIUMPHATOR”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  4 Responses »
Jan 132015
 

 

(We bring you the premiere of a full-album stream of the new work by the primordial Finnish horde Archgoat, preceded by Will Cifer’s introductory review.)

This album is another argument in favor of the dominance of European black metal. This Finnish band have been spreading the unholy word since the church-burning second wave of black metal in the early nineties. They have left a trail of splits and EPs in their wake, but this is only the band’s third full-length… so it’s kind of a big deal.

Archgoat combine the more classic metal sounds of early black metal with elements of a more grime-coated flavor of death metal than an entity like Mortuary Drape does, even though the two bands circle a similar sonic landscape. Archgoat’s strength is in mid-paced and even crawling tempos, and the mood of the music is often shrouded in a heavy cloak of doom. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW AND A PREMIERE: VON — “BLACK LOTUS (BASS DEMO)” AND “EXTINCTION”

 Interviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Jan 122015
 

 

As those who dwell in the underground already know, the seminal U.S. black metal band VON has embarked on an unusual audiovisual project: They are releasing their third album Dark Gods: Birth of the Architects  (which is itself Part II of a trilogy that began with 2013’s Dark Gods: Seven Billion Slaves) in 12 CD installments, with each of the 12 tracks accompanied by part of a comic book named Dark Gods written and illustrated by VON’s founder VENIEN!!! Each CD includes not only a version of a track from the album — which will be released in its entirety in March — but also a bonus track exclusive to the comic book.

Today we bring you a special two-part feature: the premiere of a demo teaser for the album’s 7th track “Black Lotus” along with an instrumental B-side from the CD called “Extinction”, plus an exclusive interview with VON’s drummer “Dirty FvKn! Pistols” and the band’s guitarist “HangMan”. The interview, conducted by e-mail, comes first… the images you will see are preview pages from the comic.

THE INTERVIEW

“Dark Gods: Birth of the Architect” is an unusual project – 12 songs released on a weekly basis, with each song accompanied by an installment of a 12-part “Dark Gods” comic book, with a variety of variant covers. For people who are just learning about this, could you explain the concept behind the story and the music?

Dirty Fvkn! Pistols:
The idea was to take the story each song told individually and release them as though someone was giving you a novel, one chapter at a time. Conceptually we already intended to intertwine them so it just made sense to us. We wanted a record that was more than just a bunch of songs, but rather its own entity within itself. It was important that each piece be the correct fit to make one cohesive unit in the end. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AETHERIAN — “AS SEASONS PASS”

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Jan 112015
 

Aetherian is a fantastic two-man melodic death metal band from Athens, Greece, whose two previous singles I’ve already lavished with praise: “Drops of Light” (featured here in December 2013) and “Scar of Despair” (featured here last March). Today we have the pleasure of bringing you the premiere of the lyric video for a new Aetherian single: “As Seasons Pass”.

This new song will appear on a forthcoming debut EP entitled Tales of Our Times that will include four other brand new songs in addition to this one. The beautiful cover art (above) was created by Remedy Art Design.

“As Seasons Pass” is further proof of Aetherian’s talent in crafting songs that are immediately gripping and have staying power as well. The song is both a hard-driving gallop and a carrier of dark, entrancing melody, with riffs to die for and lead guitar arpeggios that spiral and shimmer. The song also includes an evocative, beautifully performed acoustic interlude, and powerful vocals that are both gargantuan and ghostly when whispered. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SICKENING — “THE PROPHECIES OF EIBON”

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Jan 092015
 

 

Last month we discovered that Sickening from Firenze, Italy, had completed a third album entitled The Beyond and had released an advance track called “…And then new light” — which turned out to be thoroughly obliterating. Today we have the pleasure of bringing you the premiere of a second song from the new album — “The Prophecies of Eibon”.

Before you hear it, you should be aware that this new full-length is a concept album based on the 1981 cult Italian horror movie The Beyond, which was directed by Lucio Fulci and filmed in part in and around New Orleans, Louisiana. In a vividly gruesome way, it tells the story of events at a hotel that open a doorway to death and lead to the invasion of our world by the dead.

One artifact that plays a role in the movie is an ancient book discovered in the hotel that bears the name Eibon (a name that should be familiar to fans of H.P. Lovecraft). And that brings us to the song you’re about to hear: “The Prophecies of Eibon”. Continue reading »

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