GONZO’S HEAVY ROUNDUP, SEPTEMBER 2021

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Oct 012021
 


Unto Others

(NCS contributor Gonzo returns with another end-of-month roundup of music that caught his ears.)

There are a few bittersweet observations I’ve come to realize in the past month, related both to music and to the endless hellscape that is the human condition:

As of this writing, 2022 is just three months away and I’m still processing whether 2020 was even real. This means that while I survived the endlessly overwhelming shitstorm of that year, it does beg the question of how much worse this planet could get for humans over the next decade.

While live music is back and I’ve been reveling in the joy of sweaty venues and the sleep deprivation that comes with festivals again, I was just notified that Judas Priest is postponing the rest of their tour due to Richie Faulkner’s heart condition.

The next date would’ve been where I would see them (for the first time, no less) here in Denver.

Fuck.

The good news? Sabaton, who opened for Priest on this tour, is still playing a show in Denver, and by the time this piece goes to print, I’ll have seen the show and will post a full review in the coming days.

In the meantime, I’m at least somewhat distracted by the troves of amazing heavy music that keep blasting out of the darkest corners of the netherverse as of late.

Join me as I take you through some unfettered heaviness and savagery that’s emerged in the past month and kept me sane as we descend into 2021’s final few months. This month, I’ve got two albums and three singles for you to delve into. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY

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Sep 252021
 

 

To avoid boring you and offending vegetarians and vegans out there, I’ll spare you the details, but I have to pick up an animal carcass and then burn wood in a pit for about 6 hours today before burying it. There’s a lot to be said about staring at fire for 6 hours, but I’m going to drink anyway.

And anyway, because this all has to get started soon and because I slept in, I’m unable to write this morning. Even in the “Overflowing Streams” format I usually manage to write a couple sentences about the new music and videos I’ve chosen and then leave pre-order and Facebook links. I don’t even have time to do that today. In the 11+ years of NCS I can’t remember another time when all I’ve done is installed the music streams and videos. I guess there’s a first time for everything.

To salve my wounded conscience I did decide to (mostly) limit this collection to what I consider well-known bands because you’ll probably have a good idea about what’s coming without me providing any guidance. But there may still be a few surprises.

P.S. There’s no new music from Lock Up in this collection. I just like Khaos Diktator‘s cover art for the band’s new album. The first single, “Dark Force Of Conviction”, will be coming on September 30th with a video. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: 1914, EREB ALTOR, COLONY DROP, FILTH IS ETERNAL, WINGLESS

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Sep 242021
 

 

Man, my head is spinning once again over how many new songs and videos I want to recommend from the week that’s now ending. There are only six of them in this roundup, and there’s not much rhyme nor reason about why I picked these — other than the fact that I like ’em — because they provide a pretty wild series of musical twists and turns rather than some kind of cohesive flow from one to the next. But I am smiling at the whiplash it’s going to give you. I guess I should add that in different ways they’re all pretty fuckin’ intense.

I’ve got a very busy weekend ahead, but I hope to collect a few more new things from the past week’s deluge in posts on both Saturday and Sunday.

1914 (Ukraine)

I’m beginning with a couple of very dark and (as promised) very intense songs, the first of which is 1914‘s “Pillars of Fire (The Battle of Messines)“. If you’re not already familiar with the horrific World War I event that’s the subject of the song, you’ll learn about it in the prelude to the animated video. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VARIUS — “CONCORDANCE OF THE LEGIONFALL”

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Sep 232021
 

 

After releasing a debut demo (Red Messenger) in 2017 and a follow-up EP in 2019 (The Great Tribulation), the Canadian melodic death metal band Varius decided to really live the way their name sounds.

For their new EP Concordance (set for release on November 5th), diversity was the strategic goal. Each of the four tracks was primarily written by a different member of the band, and was then worked on by the band as a whole, lending a degree of consistency across the EP while also endeavoring to support the writer’s original vision. The result is that each track reveals different influences, including death metal, thrash, progressive, doom, and classic metal, augmented by some experimental twists.

What we have for you today is one of those four songs, and it’s full of dynamic surprises — a song that’s bombastic and brazen, savage and scintillating, mysterious and magnificent — and its name is “Concordance of the Legionfall“. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 2): DAKHMA, DREAM UNENDING, NORNA, JZOVCE, ANTUCO

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Sep 222021
 

As promised, here’s Part 2 of a round-up of new music and videos I began yesterday (here, in case you missed it). I’ll dispense with further introduction and just get right to it….

DAKHMA (Switzerland)

There have been a few Dakhma’s out in the world, but this one is the Swiss blackened death metal band, whose works I once characterized as “foul, filth-ridden, fiery, and ferocious music that channels the feeling of ancient, implacable evil… and utter devotion to its ends. As they say in the trade, not for the faint of heart”.

I chose those words in the context of their 2018 debut album, and now they have a second full-length on the way. Not being faint of heart (at least not when it comes to music), I eagerly partook of the new record’s first advance track — which is the way today’s round-up begins. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 1): THE LURKING FEAR, ENTHRALLMENT, THE HOWLING CHAOS, RAZOREATER, INFIRMUM

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Sep 212021
 

 

Even by my own standards I went a little crazy from Friday through Sunday. By my count, the posts I made on those days about new music and videos (including the Shades of Black column on Sunday) included recordings by 29 bands — more than any reasonable human (other than myself, because I’m unreasonable) could possibly have paid close attention to. Even having done that, I already have a huge list of other discoveries that I could begin launching today — but decided instead to scale things back to a somewhat more manageable size.

And so, this is a smaller handful of recommendations. Of course, it’s still eleven bands and divided into two Parts — I’m not going to change my spots that quickly! — but it could have been bigger. For example, though I’m beginning with what I consider “a big name”, in the hope that it will lure people into testing other music they might otherwise overlook, I did omit a few other big names — but you can find new songs and videos from Carcass, Pig Destroyer (covering a Perturbator song), Insomnium, and Full of Hell by clicking those links I just left you.

Part 2 will come tomorrow.

THE LURKING FEAR (Sweden)

This band of Swedish stalwarts, whose line-up includes well-known members of At the Gates, have a second album on the horizon, led by the first song and video I’ve chosen today. On the one hand, it’s a hard-charging assault of pummeling, chainsawing Swe-death mayhem. On the other hand, when the band shift gears a bit, it sounds spooky, and then blares like sirens. If you need a quick fix of adrenaline, this is your prescription. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 4): RUDE, THE TEMPLE, THULCANDRA, UNLEASHED, UNTAMED LAND

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Sep 182021
 

 

Well, as you can see, despite injuring myself with an excess of alcohol last night I did manage to make it to the end of my alphabet. To do that, I cut away some (but certainly not all) of the black metal I had planned to include (not just here, but in the preceding segment), because I know I will have SHADES OF BLACK tomorrow.

RUDE (US)

It’s been a long time since we had a new release by this California death metal band. I discovered them by witnessing their fantastic set at the 2016 edition of Famine Fest in Portland, and the year after that they released their second album Remnants…. That same year they participated in a live split recording with Coffins, Skeletal Remains, and Carnation, but there’s been nothing else since then. Finally, we’re going to get a new Rude EP, and a track off of it, which premiered at Grizzly Butts, is the first item in this collection. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 3): GOAT TORMENT, HATE, NECROMANTIA, REEK, REVERENCE TO PAROXYSM

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Sep 182021
 

 

As promised yesterday, I’m continuing to make my way through the metal alphabet, with another slug of songs and videos that I siphoned out of the ongoing flood during the past week. I thought I’d make it to the end of the alphabet today, but now I’m not so sure. The demon alcohol afflicted me last night, and the affliction both caused me to sleep like a hibernating bear and also to wake up in a state of severe brain fog. I’ll just have to see how things go.

GOAT TORMENT (Belgium)

If you’re not already educated about the kind of music Goat Torment make, one long look at the album art will tell you much of what you need to know. There’s one important piece of imagery missing from the artwork though — massed howitzers and machine-guns firing at will. The song you’re about to hear sounds like a mechanized war zone, one that’s also plagued by frenzied demons, who reach heights of mania in a really stupendous guitar solo. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 2): THE CORONA LANTERN, CRADLE OF FILTH, CYNIC, DAUÞUZ, DOODSWENS, GAYLORD

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Sep 172021
 

 

As I explained in the last post, I’ve collected a massive number of new songs and videos that appeared over the last week. I alphabetized them by band name and then divided them into segments. In this installment we pick up with “C” and make it to “G”. More segments tomorrow.

THE CORONA LANTERN (Czech Republic)

It’s always fascinating to learn what The Corona Lantern have gotten up to when they make a new release, and this first song is yet another fascination. Heavy and plundering, it heaves and hammers, with gloom-drenched and narcotic riffs that scrape, claw, and moan in misery, and flickering leads that wail and become a fever of agony. The wide-ranging yet perpetually terrifying vocals will put the hair up on the back of your neck too. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 1): AEON, APPARITION, ARS MAGNA UMBRAE, AUTOKRATOR, THE BREATHING PROCESS, CONTRITION

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Sep 172021
 

 

In part because the deluge of metal has continued unabated this week, and in part because I had a little more time than usual to keep track of what was coming out, I prepared a truly massive round-up of new songs and videos. To make it possible for me to recommend as much as I can, I’ve again resorted to this stripped-down format, choking down my usual verbosity and not taking time to grab all the artwork.

I’ve again alphabetized my giant list by band name and divided it into segments. I’ll get as far as I can with these segments today, and then pick up the rollout tomorrow. In Part 1 I only made it to “C”.

AEON (Sweden)

We begin with a video, and a sorrowful stroll through a cemetery which becomes a harrowing tale told partially in reverse, a tale that increasingly becomes supernatural and horrifying. The explosive and ferocious music is even more intensely harrowing. Prepare to have all your nerve endings ignited, and to chant: GOD ENDS HERE! Continue reading »

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