AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DRAGSHOLM — “SORROW HEXEN”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 052024
 

(written by Islander)

“Blackened Death Metal for fans of Dissection, Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir, Sacramentum and Vinterland“. That’s how Horror Pain Gore Death Productions hails the music on the third EP from New Jersey’s Dragsholm, which the label will release tomorrow (September 6th).

That turns out to be a meaningful set of reference points for the four songs on Sorrow Hexen. And that title of the EP is a good reference point in itself, conjuring thoughts of both melancholia and the occult, both of which are features of the music’s atmosphere — though there are other features as well.

You’ll have an opportunity to experience everything Dragsholm bring to the table on Sorrow Hexen, here on the eve of its release, because we’ve got a full stream for you below. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SILVERN — “STARDUST SERMONS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Sep 042024
 

(written by Islander)

The creation of underground metal is a global phenomenon, more extensive and varied in some countries than in others but still ubiquitous. Ukraine is one nation with an extensive and fairly multi-faceted history in the field, yet even when considering the music that’s currently being generated, the first thought that comes to most of us now is… war.

Now more than 30 months after Russia’s unprovoked invasion, the conflict, which the aggressors thought would end quickly, has settled into a grinding devastation with no end in sight, still peppered with almost weekly atrocities inflicted on non-combatants; this week, for example, brought Russian ballistic missiles that killed more than 50 people and wounded almost 30 others in Poltava, followed just yesterday by a nighttime missile and drone attack on Lviv that killed 7 and injured more than 50.

Life goes on, of course, even under the grim shadow of a war that will reach its thousandth day in November, and part of that life is the making of music, a visible way of defiantly demonstrating that life does indeed go on despite a tyrant’s determined effort to grind it into bleakness and despair. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MARDOM — “SPOJRZENIE”

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Sep 022024
 

(written by Islander)

The titles of Mardom‘s releases seem to signify an inner conflict, a perception of life in the current age that wrestles with itself. They began with The Path of No Return, followed it with Longing for a New Dawn, and now grimly move from those EPs to a debut album named Dead Soul Age.

In their music this Polish black metal trio also seem to wrestle — passionately — with the milieu in which they and we find ourselves, a seeming unthinking directionless in human behavior that on a daily basis provokes frustration of hopes, anger, pessimism, nostalgia, and a plummet into grief.

What we have for you today is a sign of how Mardom grapple with this state of affairs in their music, as we premiere a song called “Spojrzenie” in advance of Personal Records‘ release of Dead Soul Age on October 4th. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLACK MOLD — “TOWARD THE BLACK HORIZON”

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Sep 022024
 

Having named themselves for a particularly nasty-looking, fast-spreading, difficult-to-remove, and potentially dangerous fungus, Portugal’s Black Mold churn out a nihilistic amalgam of black metal and punk that makes their disgusting namesake seem mild.

You would know that if you had caught their 2020 debut album The Inheritance of Evil or their 2023 EP The Unnatural Red Glow of the Night, or the two demos that preceded those releases. You will definitely know it when you have the chance to hear their second album In the Dirt of Oblivion, which will be released by Helldprod Records on September 20th — or even just the one song from the album we’re premiering today.

The label warns: “[T]hese true spirits of the underground only have one thing in their minds. To drain the soul out of your body and fill it with darkness, hate and despair”. We have warnings of our own. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PAGANIZER — “WORLD SCYTHE”

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Aug 302024
 

(written by Islander)

What better way to launch your weekend than to have Paganizer blast through the midnight barrier hours before it arrives? And to show us that what lies beyond the barrier is something much more thrilling (and frightening) than an early Saturday morning?

As you undoubtedly know, Paganizer have been seizing attention ever since the late ’90s. With Rogga Johansson continuously at the helm and a changing cast of allies alongside him, Paganizer have released a dozen albums and nearly two dozen shorter releases, and now there’s a lucky 13th album headed our way — entitled Flesh Requiem — with an arrival date of November 1st through Transcending Obscurity Records.

As you can see, it’s adorned by the distinctive artwork of Mariusz Lewandowski, which gives us a chilling glimpse of the other world that lies beyond the midnight barrier. It’s also a suggestive sign that what Paganizer are doing on this new album goes beyond the delivery of ruinous death metal might — and the song we’re premiering today is an electrifying demonstration of that. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DEATH OF GIANTS — “ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 292024
 

Cover songs usually fall into one of two categories: Either they’re straightforward and faithful renditions of the original (though vocal variations inevitably introduce some differences), or they’re efforts to re-imagine and re-configure the originals, sometimes creating truly new originals.

The latter type of cover song is risky because listeners who are fans of the original may continue hearing it and thinking about it as they listen to the cover, which is a distraction, and at worst they may be annoyed at the changes. But when a cover song “works”, it’s far more interesting than a faithful repetition.

Death of Giants‘ cover of Iron Maiden‘s “Only the Good Die Young“, a video for which we’re premiering today, unmistakably falls into the second category — a striking reinterpretation of the original that turns it into a very different song, and one that works supremely well. It’s even more interesting and moving when you understand how the cover was inspired, though it would be powerfully moving even if you didn’t know. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BORNBROKEN — “HOW STRONG YOU ARE”

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Aug 282024
 

If you’re born broken, what do you do? Do you succumb to the idea that you’re fated to failure and become motionless or manipulative, or do you put away excuses and find out how strong you really are?

The Montreal band BornBroken have their own clear answer to that question, and provide it in the song we’re premiering today — “How Strong You Are” — from their forthcoming album (which seems to ask its own related question), Am I Invisible. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: INFERN — “UNDERTOW”

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Aug 282024
 

Let’s dive right into this one — but be forewarned: This “Undertow” will powerfully pull you under and crash you against the rocks.

As the words to this song reveal, the waters here aren’t earthly in origin. Rich in references to ancient mythology, the lyrics shown in the video (and growled monstrously but intelligibly in the song) portray a boat-less journey down the Styx and the harrowing underworld curses it brings.

Like the vocals, the music is also monstrous — monstrously heavy, ruthlessly bone-smashing, irresistibly neck-wrecking, and shrouded in an insidious atmosphere of evil and death. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DISTANT DOMINION — “WE’VE COME FOR YOUR SOULS”

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Aug 272024
 

Let’s be honest: When some of you metalheads (or at least those who are a bit jaded), see a band advertised as one whose Philadelphia-based members combine more than a collective century of experience, you might think, “Oh, a bunch of old dudes, probably playing tired old music.”

But when you see that their resumes include names like Krieg, Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, Polterchrist, and Mortal Decay (among others), maybe you’ll start reconsidering your assumptions.

And then when you hear what these people have done in their band Distant Dominion, you’ll really feel foolish — as you scramble for fire extinguishers and wonder where your teeth went after the music punched them out. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ISOLERT — “HERALD OF DEMISE”

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Aug 272024
 

(written by Islander)

I spilled a lot of words about the “devastating magnificence” of Isolert’s last album, 2020’s World In Ruins — words such as “soaring”, “sweeping”, “near-celestial”, “blazing”, and “tumultuous”, but also “crushing”, “stately”, “dolorous”, and “sublime”. It created ruinous maelstroms but also reached epic heights of glory.

It has therefore been quite exciting news to see that Isolert have a new album on the way, the work of a lineup that now includes new guitarist George S. (Kosmovorous, Herald) in addition to Panagiotis T. (vocals), Nick S. (drums, vocals), and Apostolos K. (guitars, bass). The name of their new album is Wounds of Desolation, and it’s set for release on September 13th by the band’s new label Non Serviam Records.

One song from the album has premiered so far, and today we’re fortunate to host the debut of a second one, a song called “Herald of Demise“. Continue reading »

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