AN NCS PREMIERE: VULTURES — “ETERNAL SLEEP”

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Jul 102024
 

As you gaze upon the nightmarish cover art for the Javanese band Vultures‘ debut EP, you can understand the title they chose for the record: Divine Retribution Unleashed. But then also consider what horrors might await if those hideous beings became your companions in dreams, crouched upon your chest during an… eternal sleep.

“Eternal Sleep” is indeed the name of the song we’re premiering today from Divine Retribution Unleashed in advance of the EP’s joint release in different formats on July 15th by the multi-national triumvirate of Death in Pieces, Onyx Stone Blood Records, and Oldskull Production.

It’s one of 6 songs on the EP, all of them connected to each other to form a single storyline, with lyrics and events drawn from the Qur’an to narrate subjects such as “Pharaoh and Moses, war, death, aftermath, and doomsday”. Or, to put it differently, the narrative represents (in the band’s words) “a reminder of the destruction that has occurred in the past, as well as the destruction that will occur in the future, which is just a matter of time”. Continue reading »

AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CLACTONIAN — “DEA MADRE”

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Jul 102024
 

We have written frequently over the last six years about the music of the Italian band Thecodontion, whose primeval and prehistoric thematic interests have been as interesting and erudite as their guitar-less but ever-evolving formulations of death metal. And so we were highly intrigued to learn that Thecodontion vocalist G.E.F. had started a new band named Clactonian, joined by Thecodontion drummer V.P. (also in SVNTH) and Finnish musicians who include Ashen Tomb on the resume.

Like Thecodontion, the thematic interests of Clactonian are rooted in prehistory, and particularly the Paleolithic Age. The name itself is a term given by archaeologists to an industry of European flint tools made by an extinct species of archaic humans who lived hundreds of thousands of years ago. (You can find more about here.)

Clactonian‘s debut demo, which we’re premiering today, is entitled Dea Madre (“Mother Goddess” in Italian). It too has prehistoric connotations, because that title refers to the famous Venus of Willendorf, a small figurine discovered in 1908 that’s estimated to have been made around 29,500 years ago. As this article discusses, researchers have speculated that the figure and others like it represented an early fertility deity, perhaps… a mother goddess. The figurine’s image features in the cover art of Dea Madre, with notable modifications in keeping with the music.

But what about the music on the demo? Although you might guess that it is linked to the musical interests of Thecodontion, it instead pursues a different path, a path of early bestial black/death metal that (as G.E.F. has told us) draws strong influence from Beherit but also should appeal to fans of Archgoat, early Bathory, and some bass-driven bands like Barathrum or early Necromantia for the slower sections. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THORIUM — “ECLIPSED”

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Jul 102024
 

Today we help spread the news that on September 20th of this year Emanzipation Productions will release a new album named The Bastard by the veteran Danish death metal band Thorium.

To help build anticipation for this new sixth full-length from Thorium, today we’re also premiering a video for “Eclipsed“, the first single from The Bastard, which will be released on July 11th paired with a B-side song named “Underground” that’s also on the new album.

But first we should tell you about the Thorium lineup as it currently exists…. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THE PATH OF MEMORY — “NOT ALL MADNESSES MAY BE BAD”

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Jul 092024
 

Long-time visitors here (and of course many others elsewhere) will recognize the name Bornyhake, the nom de plume of the Swiss musician whose talents have featured in an extraordinarily broad range of bands and personal projects since the late ’90s, perhaps most prominently Borgne, Enoid, Pure, and Kawir.

Just looking at the Metal-Archives list of Bornyhake‘s current and past bands (32 o0f them at last count), and the fact that he also owns a recording studio and record labels, leads to the conclusion that music must be a necessity of life for him, perhaps second only to air (or a close third after the peskiness of food and water).

What’s also evident is that constant exploration and evolution must be an equal necessity, and that conclusion is reinforced by a Bornyhake solo project named The Path of Memory — a name you won’t find on that extensive M-A list, which is something of a broad clue about the nature of the music. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DUNE — “SIEVE”

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Jul 092024
 

We’re told that the Saudi band Dune first formed around 2004 but went on hiatus in 2007 before making a public release — “hiatus” being a word often used instead of “split up” when the passage of time leads to a subsequent resurrection.

And Dune did indeed revive (thankfully), releasing a single in 2022 (“Refuge“) and another in 2023 (“Reject“).  And then in May of this year they released their first EP, entitled Years of Chains, which includes those two singles and two more songs. It thus marks the 20th anniversary of their original formation.

Dune have explained that they wrote the songs on the EP years ago, but never got a chance to record them properly. After picking out these four tracks from their originals following their revival, they of course finally have recorded them, and we’re happy to help spread the word through our video premiere of “Sieve“, the EP’s opener. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TRAIL OF ENTRAILS — “ROT IN THE CELLAR”

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Jul 012024
 

(On the day of its release we’re premiering a debut EP by the Chicago death metal band Trail of Entrails, and Christopher Luedtke provides the introduction.)

If there’s one thing that’s more than established about death metal at this moment it’s the enduring spirit and dedication to the riff. The genre might have slowed down in the mid-2000s up until the mid/late 2010s but there was never an all-out cease and desist for the genre. Like many genres, there are always dedicated people keeping it alive and death metal is seeing quite the heyday again. And once again, a new player has entered the arena.

Trail of Entrails are the latest death metal dealers out of Chicago, IL. The band consists of Robb Exhumed (guitar/vocals; Mutilate, Waifu), Zacky Bifid (guitar/vocals; Bifid Corpse, Coffinfeeder), and Alex Entrails (drums; Barrier). Having already played their first live show (check out the footage below), the band is here ready to unleash their debut EP Rot In The Cellar. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): INERTH — “HYBRIS”

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Jul 012024
 

“Idiosyncratic” is a good word for the music of the Spanish band Inerth, whose 2022 debut album Void drew influence from such divergent forebears as Godflesh, Napalm Death, Neurosis, Celtic Frost, Amebix, and Killing Joke.

To varying degrees, a lot of those influences can still be detected in their follow-up EP Hybris, which we’re premiering today, perhaps most especially Godflesh, but while these four new songs can still be considered a stylistic hybrid, they also sound more cohesive.

As you’ll see, we couldn’t resist the temptation to consider the songs one by one, but for the impatient among you we’ll offer this summing up of what you’re getting yourselves into:

The hallmarks of Hybris are compulsive grooves of bridge-collapsing and muscle-moving power; music of madness and mayhem that puts nerves on edge, coupled with episodes of crushing hopelessness; a vocal tandem that creates a gripping contrast; and an overarching atmosphere of human calamity, for which we have no one to blame but ourselves. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TORREFY — “ENSLAVED NEW WORLD”

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Jun 282024
 

Today we’re revealing the complete cover art for Necronomisongs, the forthcoming fourth album by the black-thrashers Torrefy from lovely Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. As you can see, it seems to portray the performance of a hellish orchestra, stripped of flesh but not stripped of their deathless desire to perform.

In addition to revealing the ghastly cover art we’re also presenting the new album’s second single, “Enslaved New World“, and when you hear it, the cover art will make lots of sense. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EVILYN — “BLOVIATE”

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Jun 282024
 

What an interesting word “bloviate” is. Dictionaries define it as speaking verbosely and in an annoying way, as if the speaker thinks himself very important but is instead empty of substance. It seems to have originated in the U.S. in the early 1850s as an alteration of the word “blow,” as in the sense of “to boast,” like a blow-hard. It came up then, and still comes up, in reference to politicians.

Even more interesting is the death metal band Evilyn‘s choice of that word as the name of a song on their debut album Mondestrunken (which will be released on August 16th by Transcending Obscurity Records). And there’s another interesting word.

Mondestrunken seems to be a German expression that translates as “moondrunk“. The only previous reported use of it that we’ve found in our research is in the name of a song that opens an innovative musical melodrama (commonly known as Pierrot lunaire) composed by Arnold Schoenberg based on a cycle of poems by Albert Giraud. It premiered in Berlin in 1921.

Well, we can only guess about why Evilyn chose that name for the album and “Bloviate” as the name of the song we’re about to premiere. But it turns out that the music is every bit as atypical as the naming choices. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TROG — “HORRORS BEYOND”

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Jun 272024
 

The origins of the word troglodyte date back to antiquity, where it was used by ancient Greek and Roman geographers and historians to refer to primitive cave-dwellers in different regions. Over time, of course, it has also been used to refer to any people “characterized by reclusive habits or outmoded or reactionary attitudes”.

The New Jersey death metal band TROG probably had their tongues in their cheeks when they chose that name. (When the band originally formed in 2019 the name they used was Troglorot, which obviously incorporated some other connotations too). On its face, the name suggests primitive caveman death metal, the kind that sounds like grunting hulks brutishly banging rocks together.

But even their first EP, Of Vomit Reborn, made clear that this wasn’t really what they were up to. Their debut album Horrors Beyond, which we’re premiering in full today on the eve of its June 28 release, makes that even more apparent, and no one with ears to hear would ever characterize the music as a reflection of “outmoded or reactionary attitudes” — far from it. Continue reading »

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