Jul 132015
 

 

el hijo de la aurora the enigma of evil

 

(Comrade Aleks decided to try his hand at round-up duty today, with new music from three bands to throw your way.)

It is Summer, it is time to relax, and this brief overview is an exception to NCS rules, because today I’d like to approach some new releases from the world-wide psychedelic scene. If you’re open for new melodies in a retro style, if you see bright colors as music speaks to you, and you have few minutes, then take a look here…

Here are brief overviews of three new albums by El Hijo De La Aurora and Matus (both bands are from Peru) and the Russian project The Grand Astoria.

 

El Hijo De La Aurora – The Enigma of Evil

El Hijo De La Aurora (Son of the Dawn) is an experimental psychedelic doom project which was created by Joaquin Cuadra after his departure from another Peruvian band playing in a similar direction – Don Juan Matus. Joaquin and his companions discovered the enigmas of both mortal and spiritual worlds throughout two full-length albums, Lemuria (2008) and Wicca: Spells, Magic and Witchcraft Through Ages (2010). It took almost five years to continue their researches on a third full-length record under the name The Enigma of Evil, which was released on CD by Minotauro Records. Continue reading »

Jul 112015
 

Wolfheart 2015

 

Happy Saturday. A whole bunch of metal bands I like released new songs this past week. I didn’t jump on all of them with my usual alacrity because I was burning the candle at both ends with a combination of day-job crap, personal crap, and late-night drinking with good friends (not crap), followed by hangover crap. I will make it up to you: Our other writers stand ready to mow your loans or hand-wash your underwear. I stand ready to direct those operations from afar.

In addition, in this post I’m going to stream some of those things I missed, plus one new discovery at the end.

WOLFHEART

Tuomas Saukkonen is one of those rare metal artists who just doesn’t seem to make a misstep. After closing down a multitude of other projects (including Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon), he turned right around and released a great album in 2013 (Winterborn) under the name Wolfheart. He has completed work on a second Wolfheart album entitled Shadow World that will be released by Spinefarm on August 21. After the jump, check out the music video for a new song named “Aeon of Cold”. Continue reading »

Jul 102015
 

Arphael-Ambigram

 

(TheMadIsraeli provides this introduction to the music of Arphael.)

So I’ve been trying to catch up on reviews I meant to have done months ago, and it just isn’t happening because I keep finding absolutely stellar musical discoveries and we keep getting promos I’ve been anticipating. This album, however, is from last year, by a lone Ukranian man whose name is unknown. Arphael is the alias of the project, and it is one of the most unique and badass slabs of titanic rib-cage crushing brutality I’ve ever heard. Ambigram is a gem from last year that somehow just got criminally ignored.

Now what does Arphael do? That’s really hard to articulate. It’s technical death metal, it’s djent, it’s industrial, it’s garage black metal cheesy cheap keyboards and vocals buried in the mix. The ultimate sound is otherworldly, alien, and completely disorienting, especially since the song-writing takes a tech-death leaning of lots of sections and lots of tempo changes. It’s also completely unrelenting. There isn’t a whole lot of breathing room in the hour or more’s worth of music; for some, listening to Arphael will be a genuinely exhausting endeavor. Continue reading »

Jul 102015
 

 

Acoustic

 

(Grant Skelton compiled this unusual collection of music — a rare focus on acoustic music for our site.)

I love live acoustic performances and acoustic renditions of “heavy” songs. Maybe it’s because I’m a child of the ’90s. I remember MTV’s Unplugged show. Alice In Chains’ Unplugged is my absolute favorite of their discography. Days Of The New may never again release new material, but their first self-titled album is a timeless musical triumph.

There’s something almost fragile about acoustic performances. You hear the vocalist inhale before he utters a note. The squeal of the guitar strings. The hum of the bass and the click of the drumsticks as the drummer counts into the next song. While some bands may not perform acoustic sets of their studio material, they may record an occasional acoustic interlude or ballad. How many thrash and death metal albums have you heard that have an acoustic introduction on the first track? Continue reading »

Jul 082015
 

Soilwork-The Ride Majestic

 

Sweden’s Soilwork have a new album entitled The Ride Majestic coming out via Nuclear Blast on August 28. Not long ago, the label posted an official lyric video for the title track on YouTube, which enables us to stream it for you in this post.

When you name a song “The Ride Majestic”, you had better make it a ride — and Soilwork have accomplished that. It’s a blood-pumping rush, loaded with galloping riffs, a swirling guitar solo, soaring melody, and the expected mix of harsh and clean vocal dynamics from Speed Strid. And yeah, it’s a damned catchy ride, too. Continue reading »

Jul 072015
 

Hellsodomy-Sodomy Is Nigh

 

This is Part 2 of a collection of new music I’ve come across in recent days that I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I have. And if you don’t enjoy these songs, please just keep that to yourselves because I’m sensitive and bruise easily.

HELLSODOMY

That’s right, the band’s name is Hellsodomy, and you get two guesses about what the music will sound like. If you guessed “ambient drone”, please ram your head into the wall and try again.

Hellsodomy hail from Kadiköy in the metroplex of Istanbul, Turkey. They have an EP named Sodomy Is Nigh, which will be released on CD later this month by Barbarian Wrath. It consists of four new songs plus the four tracks that appeared on the band’s 2014 demo, Masochistic Molestation. Two of the new songs are streaming on Bandcamp along with one of those demo tracks, and I’ve found the other three demo tracks on YouTube. Continue reading »

Jul 072015
 

Cruciamentum-Charnel Passages

 

I’m once again drowning in new metal. I waited more than one day to collect new music, and the tide rose up to my eyebrows. Gasping, I flailed around and randomly latched on to the following new tracks from among those I wanted to recommend. I’ll compile a second collection and post it later today.

CRUCIAMENTUM

Charnel Passages is an album I’ve really been looking forward to. It’s the debut album of Britain’s Cruciamentum and their first new music since 2011. Pity that Profound Lore won’t be releasing it until September 4. But yesterday they did release a song called “Piety Carved From Flesh”.

When I first saw the song’s title, my scrambled brain read it as “Piety Carved From Flies” — and it does sound like a swarm of flies, if flies were the size of Great Danes. The drilling riffs are thoroughly morbid, giving off a powerful stench of decay as the grisly melody rises and falls through the whirring haze of sound. The song is punctuated with booming grooves, it features an excellent drum performance, and the vocalist’s howling tirades are a perfect accompaniment for this gruesome offering of death metal illness. Continue reading »

Jul 052015
 

 

I wrote most of this post yesterday and then got side-tracked trying to deal with the technical problems inflicted on our glorious site by scum-sucking spammers. And then when I’d done all I knew to do, I spent the rest of the day and the night celebrating The Fourth. Rather than start over on this post, I just added one word to the title and wrapped it up this morning.

I checked our Google Analytics data yesterday, and it confirmed what I’ve suspected: Over the last year, only 40% of the total visits to our site have come from people in the United States. And that means that the for the majority of people likely to pop in today, July 4 was just another Saturday. Continue reading »

Jul 022015
 

 

I haven’t compiled one of these round-ups in three days, and so of course I’m now awash in news, new music, and new videos that I think are worth your time — too much to stuff into one post. Rather than become paralyzed with indecision about what to foist upon you now and what to save for later, I drew names out of a hat. Here’s what emerged…

SKEPTICISM

Thanks to a tip from Grant Skelton, I saw yesterday’s announcement that Finland’s venerable and venerated Skepticism have a new album named Ordeal set for release by Svart Records on September 18. For me, the band’s performance at this year’s Maryland Deathfest was one of the event’s true high points, so I could hardly be more thrilled about this news — especially since seven long years have passed since the band’s last full-length.

And to add even more intrigue, the band recorded the new album live before an audience on January 24th at Klubi in Turku, Finland, and captured the performance on film. Continue reading »

Jun 302015
 

 

(Guest contributor Grant Skelton provides this collection of recently released new music by two bands — Chaos Order and Dolven.)

CHAOS ORDER

Chaos Order are a metallic hardcore band from my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. In October, they will be recording with Steve Albini (Nirvana, TAD, High On Fire, Neurosis) for a split release due in 2016. The band have an EP due in the fall as well (date TBA) titled, Distant Chords of Disharmony. Recently, Chaos Order posted 2 songs from that release. Regarding the song “Eternal Recurrence,” the band posted this on their Facebook page:

“Eternal Recurrence is the most experimental Chaos Order track to date.”

Now, I know that in the metal world, the word “experimental” can have multiple meanings depending on its context. Depending upon the temperament of the audience, bands can be praised or condemned for “experimenting” with their sound. Rest assured, “Eternal Recurrence” sees Chaos Order borrowing various well-worn musical weapons from their arsenal. Continue reading »