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)

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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 »

AN NCS PREMIERE: “CALL OUT THE DEAD” BY BEASTWARS

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Aug 202012
 

If you recognize that amazing artwork above by Nick Keller, it may be because just a few days ago we included it in a feature about his work. It graces the cover of an equally amazing self-titled album by New Zealand’s Beastwars. And today, we’re pleased as all hell to premiere a song from the album entitled “Call Out the Dead”.

Beastwars originally self-released this album in their home country in May 2011, where it generated a ton of buzz and earned the band a nomination (as one of only three finalists) for Best Rock Album in the 2011 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards as well as selection as one of seven finalists (out of 87 submissions) for the country’s 2011 Taite Music Prize. Now the album is finally getting a worldwide release through Destroy/EMI Records — on September 11 in North America and a day earlier elsewhere.

No one song on the album fully represents the album as a whole, which is one of the reasons why it’s such a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience. Every song has its own character, yet they’re related to each other through the presence of powerful, earth-moving riffs, enormously catchy hooks, and the completely riveting vocals of Matt Hyde (which are themselves dramatically variable).

The album reminds us of the best work of Mastodon, though more primal and occult in its feel, with helpings of Sabbathian-style doom, Melvins-style sludge, Alabama Thunderpussy-style Southern groove, psychedelia, and a whole shitload of evil. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MORDBRAND – “CONSUME THEM” FROM “KOLUMBARIUM”

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Aug 162012
 

Mordbrand is a three-man death metal juggernaut from Sweden whose work has appeared frequently at NO CLEAN SINGING and drawn considerable attention elsewhere, too. Consisting of vocalist Per Boder (ex-God Macabre), guitarist/bassist/backing vocalist Björn Larsson, and drummer Johan Rudberg, Mordbrand have chosen (so far) to release their music in small portions. There was a 2010 split with Evoke, an attention-grabbing EP in 2011 entitled Necropsychotic (reviewed here), and a split with Bombs of Hades released earlier this year under the title No Life (featured here).

Since the release of the No Life split, Mordbrand have recorded two more songs destined for release by Deathgasm Records as a 7″ vinyl bearing the name Kolumbarium. The two songs are “Consume Them” and “Let Them Slumber”. The second one features guest vocals by Nox from the excellent Swedish band Craft.

Originally expected this summer, manufacturing delays have pushed off Kolumbarium’s availability — the latest word is that it will be released by late September or early October. However, because we are awesome, we have been allowed to hear the two songs in advance. Because you are awesome, you will also get to hear one of them before you finish reading this post. Yes, in a moment of weakness, Mordbrand agreed to allow NCS to provide the world premiere of “Consume Them”. And man, does it rip hell. Continue reading »

KARYBDIS: “FROM THE DEPTHS” — AN NCS FULL-ALBUM STREAM

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Jun 292012
 

Students of Greek mythology will recognize Kharybdis as the name of a sea monster, a spawner of whirlpools who together with Scylla created a smashing gauntlet of death from which few seafarers escaped. Karybdis is also the name of a smashing UK-based metal band whose mythology-themed debut album From the Depths we’re proud to stream for you in full today.

I’m almost (but not quite) at a loss for words to describe the music on From the Depths. It’s like a full-speed collision of a multitude of metal genres — most prominently, melodic death metal, groove metal, thrash, and hardcore, with different elements more dominant than others, depending on the song. Imagine a fusing of the musical styles of At the Gates, Lamb of God, The Black Dahlia Murder, and Darkest Hour. Or think about The Absence or the late, lamented The Famine — but don’t forget to throw in a few symphonic enhancements, a jazz guitar solo, and old-school breakdowns (the kind that break necks without being introduced by a bass drop).

You get Gothenberg galloping; jagged pneumatic riffing; blazing, layered melodic leads and swirling solo’s; booming bass lines you feel all the way through your core; wonderfully varied attacking drums; tempos that turn on a dime; and an impassioned vocalist (Rich O’Donnell) who has an extended range of unclean styles, from cavernous roars to cauterizing howls and paint-melting shrieks.

Also, every one of these high-voltage songs functions like a giant mosh-trigger — press play and you’ll be looking for the first solid object against which you can hurl yourself. But shit, this thing also includes string instrumentals that sweep and dance with elegance — and I’m talking about real strings (violin, viola, and cello), not the artifice of a synthesizer. Continue reading »

AN EXCLUSIVE NCS PREMIERE: “THE HORRORS OF HOME” BY KARTIKEYA

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Jun 212012
 

At NCS, we follow Moscow’s Kartikeya like hawks, because their music is excellent, because they don’t sound quite like anyone else, and because they don’t stand still. The band are at work on a new album, to be called Samudra, which we understand should be ready for release later this year, and they’ve been teasing their fans about a new single from the album to be released June 22.

Well, it may only be June 21 in the U.S., but it’s June 22 in Russia — and so the song is ready for release now. And to our very happy surprise, we get to premiere it!

The single is called “The Horrors of Home”, and the artwork features the photography of Greg Shanta. The song itself also includes some noteworthy guests, in addition to the members of Kartikeya: NCS favorite Keith Merrow, who contributes a winding, rippling guitar solo, and vocalist Aleksandra Radosavljevic.

“The Horrors of Home” may be the most multi-faceted piece of music that Kartikeya have yet created, combining complex hammering rhythms, passages of ethnically-influenced dreamlike ambience (made even more otherworldly by Aleksandra Radosavljevic’s wordless vocals), a soaring chorus, sections that put me in mind of the dark melodic death metal of bands such as Insomnium, and maybe even a flavor of Devin Townsend and Machina-era Smashing Pumpkins. And the male vocals on the album really provide an array of tones — from bestial death metal howls to blackened shrieks to rousing cleans.

Do listen to this piece of dark, transfixing music right after the jump . . . and then we’ll tell you how to get it for yourself. Continue reading »

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