SEEN AND HEARD ON VALENTINE’S DAY: CHAINSWORD, A NOEND OF MINE, NANGA PARBAT, UNGRAVEN, MIASMATA, ALTARAGE, CIBOLA

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Feb 132021
 

 

Happy Valentine’s Day to one and all (a day early, as Mr. Synn reminds me), including those of you who’ve had all the romance beaten out of you by life’s misfortunes. With black hearts and wilted flowers, I bring you the following musical gifts, some of them nastier than rabid wolves, some of them as beautiful as an alabaster corpse, some of them wilder and more destructive than a cyclone.

I started the day as usual, venturing onto my outdoor deck, bleary-eyed and clutching coffee, yearning for a couple of smokes. What greeted me was the sight of the forest around our island home blanketed in about five inches of snow that had fallen overnight, quiet, grey, and cold. The next thing that greeted me on my phone was a message that gave me the way to launch this round-up.

CHAINSWORD (Poland)

The message waiting for me on my phone as I smoked and caffeinated was from my Norwegian friend eiterorm. He wrote: “Can you please do a review so that this album cover is the header image for the blog?  There is so much going on in that artwork, but my favorite thing is obviously the five-nipple pentagram chain”. I replied: “Your wish is my command.” Continue reading »

THE INSANITY OF ONE-MAN BANDS IN CHINA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Feb 112021
 

 

(The following article was written by guest contributor Ryan Dyer, who has been on a mission to spread the word about metal music from China, and in this article he focuses on one-man Chinese bands in the genres of grindcore, noise, and industrial.)

China is home to over a billion people. Hundreds of thousands of these individuals have artistic endeavors, but some don’t play well with others. The one-man band is a unique performance art in the musical spectrum. Usually, electronic music is where one would find them, and usually as a DJ. The one-man vehicle does reach out into other forms of music, however, such as rap, hip hop, industrial, noise, and even grindcore. As the result of one person’s imagination and drive, the output often defies genre limitations, becoming something which could be labeled “outsider music”.

The three musicians presented here are certainly outsiders. Hailing from Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai, they prove that no single city is at the forefront of single-handed creative madness in China. It’s omnipresent and on the rise. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: KLEXOS, SARIN, KARNAR, ISHTEMBASHTOK, WARM GADGET, BESTIA ATER, FULCI, CELESTIAL SANCTUARY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Feb 062021
 

 

As I was trying to go to sleep last night I mentally fidgeted about what I was going to do for NCS today. The problem was that last week I didn’t have the time or patience to go through our e-mails carefully or do the other things I usually do to sniff out new songs and videos that would be fodder for a round-up. Most weeks I have long lists of possibilities to check out by now. As of last night I had made no such list.

As I tried to find sleep, I grudgingly resolved that I would have to spend a few hours this morning doing what I’d failed to do since last Monday, and make that list — and then start listening. I had to trash that idea this morning when I realized I had slept for 10 hours and that a big chunk of the morning was already gone. So, making the big list of newly released songs and videos will have to wait. Here, I’ve picked from things I already knew about a week ago, and added just a couple of songs more recently recommended to me by valued sources.

KLEXOS (U.S.)

“Obfuscâre Veritas”, the first song now up for streaming from Apocryphal Parabolam, the new album by Kentucky’s Klexos, is dissonant and deranged, twisted and ever-twisting, brazen and brawling — and generally berserk. The vocals display a lot of harrowing dynamism as well. The song exhibits impressive technicality, which is necessary, given how wildly and rapidly the music veers and careens. It will also give you a vigorous beating, which you probably deserve. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ISGHERURD MORTH — “LUCIR STORMALAH”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Feb 012021
 

 

In 2016 Stench Price burst upon the scene with a self-titled debut that included a constellation of guest appearances (among them, Dan Lilker, Rogga Johansson, Karina Utomo, Max Phelps, Dave Ingram, and Shawn Knight) and a highly adventurous approach to grindcore, one that united high levels of technical proficiency and pronounced avant-garde musical inclinations (for example, who would have thought that bossa/lounge music would have a place in grind?).

While all the luminary guests played a role in drawing people into the unconventional and constantly surprising music, the band’s three members deserved the lion’s share of the credit: French drummer Romain Goulon (ex-Necrophagist, Benighted) and Siberian musicians Peter Shallmin (Kamlath, Escapethecult) and Max Konstantinov (Kamlath, Heavenwithus). Now this same trio have formed a new project named Isgherurd Morth, in which they apply their taste for the unorthodox to black metal.

The debut album of Isgherurd Morth is named Hellrduk, and it’s set for release on March 12th by Repose Records, with pre-orders beginning today. To help spread the word, we’re now premiering an album track called “Lucir Stormalah“. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEAR ON A SATURDAY: AETHERIAN, AARA, KOLLAPSE, SOEN, 7.5 TONNES OF BEARD, SHEVILS

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Jan 302021
 

 

I picked a half-dozen songs for today’s round-up, most of which I paid attention to based on friends’ recommendations. It was easy to do that because I was already a fan of every group included here. If you don’t immediately recognize all the names, I’ll forewarn you that there’s a lot of whiplash in this playlist, which is to say that the music diverges sharply from song to song. On the other hand, the variety increases the odds that you’ll find something to like.

AETHERIAN (Greece)

I was so excited to find out that Aetherian would be releasing a new song and video yesterday. For a band that only have one EP and one album to their credit since the release of their first single in 2014 we’ve written about them literally a dozen times, including reviews of that EP and album. They earned all that attention because their brand of melodic death metal is so very good. Their melodies (which tend to lean on the melancholy side of things) are beautifully crafted and moving; when they charge hard, they’ll give your pulse rate a swift kick in the ass; and they always seem to have a few surprises up their sleeves as well. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SHARED TRAUMA, [4672], CROSTA, HANUMAN, FELLAHIN FALL

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Jan 282021
 

 

Due to Andy preparing the review that accompanied today’s album premiere, I found myself with some spare time that I don’t usually have. What to do with that? I thought about continuing to play catch-up on my Most Infectious Song list by putting together a second installment for the day, but decided instead to listen to some new songs for the purpose of compiling a round-up. It didn’t take me long to find some that hooked me, in part because my comrade DGR pointed me to two of them.

SHARED TRAUMA (U.S.)

I’m beginning with the first of DGR’s suggestions. It’s the debut single from a new band named Shared Trauma, which was formed by former members of The Black Dahlia Murder (Ryan “Bart” Williams) and The Faceless (Derek Rydquist, Michael Sherer, Brandon Griffin), along with drummer John Thomas. The name of the song is “Radiant Prison“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE — “THE WAGES OF FAITH”

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Jan 252021
 

 

The UK’s Twitch of the Death Nerve picked a great name for their band. Even though they borrowed it from the title of a 1971 horror movie filmed by Mario Bava, it still stands out. Once observed, it’s hard to forget. The same is true of their music, although it’s much more likely to produce explosive seizures than mere twitches.

Following two albums released in 2014 and last year (respectively, A New Code of Morality and A Resting Place for the Wrathful — the latter of which took the No. 1 spot on our friend Vonlughlio’s year-end list of 2020’s best brutal albums here at NCS), the band’s next decimating discharge will be a record named Beset By False Prophets, which is set for release by Comatose Music on March 12th, accompanied by  grotesque and attention-seizing artwork by Sandeep Karunakaran (Sanskarans).

The new album includes four brand new tracks as well as Twitch Of The Death Nerve’s complete live set from the Xxxapada Na Tromba festival which took place in Lisbon, Portugal in January 2020. What we have for you today is a premiere of one of those four new tracks — “The Wages Of Faith” . It hits like an injection of nitroglycerine straight into the neck. Continue reading »

OFF THE BEATEN PATHS: THY CATAFALQUE, JARI LINDHOLM, BLACK KIRIN, NILOTIKA CULTURAL ENSEMBLE, TE VAKA

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Jan 252021
 

 

In a round-up yesterday I disclosed that I spent a lot of time on Saturday catching up with new music I was interested in hearing. I actually just scratched the surface, but still got submerged in a lot of metallic extremity. As palate cleansers, I sometimes gave my ears and my head a break by venturing into music I knew in advance wouldn’t be the usual bread and butter of NCS. From those off-the-beaten-path excursions I selected the following music to share with you.

I don’t mean to suggest that there’s no metal here at all, and a couple of the names will be well-known to NCS readers, but it’s still different. And you’ll also find that there is a lot of globe-hopping coming your way.

THY CATAFALQUE (Hungary)

I can always recognize the music of Thy Catafalque when I hear it, regardless of which vocalist happens to be accompanying Tamás Kátai. It may have something to do with his guitar tunings and his use of rhythms, but mainly it’s rooted in his crafting of melodies. I wish I could confidently assert that the melodies are connected to the folk traditions of his Hungarian homeland, but I’m just assuming that, because I’m not a student of Hungarian folk music. To my untrained ears, all I can say is that the sounds are exotic to me, and both earthy and haunting. But really, those two adjectives just skim the surface, because across the breadth of Thy Catafalque‘s extraordinary discography, there are many other sensations as well. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (OLD SCHOOL EDITION): ASPHYX, MEMORIAM, NERVOSA, WOLFHEART, MELVINS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jan 242021
 

 

We had a rare day with no posts yesterday. I spent most of my free time clawing through the hundreds of mostly un-read e-mails that had piled up in our in-box last week, and made a gigantic list of new music to check out, and then attempted to do the checking. I didn’t finish listening to everything because the list was so long. But of the new stuff I heard, the following collection kind of assembled itself.

I don’t think any of these bands require an introduction. All of their names are prominent. And all the songs until the last one have a pronounced old school death metal flavor. They’re also all heavy on the chugs, and the death metal tracks include uniformly ferocious vocals. Melvins obviously aren’t a death metal band, but their new song is also heavy on the chugs, and there’s also another reason why it fits in an “old school” round-up.

P.S. If you came here today expecting to find a SHADES OF BLACK column, be patient. It’s coming.

ASPHYX

As mentioned above, there are a lot of powerhouse vocalists in this collection I’ve assembled, beginning with the inimitable Martin van Drunen (a lot of people do try to imitate him, and to be honest, some do so with some success, but there still ain’t nothing like the original). Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BEYOND GRACE, DVNE, DISENTOMB

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 222021
 

 

It’s been another one of those weeks when a smorgasbord of distractions (did you hear we inaugurated a new President?) prevented me from doing much more at NCS than write up the premieres I’d agreed to do. As the days rolled on I noticed dozens of new songs and videos that I’m anxious to check out. I haven’t gotten to most of them; I guess I know how I’ll be spending this weekend. But I did seize on a few of them, and from those I picked the three included in this quick Friday round-up.

BEYOND GRACE (UK)

Yes, I suppose you could accuse me of nepotism with this first pick, given that our own Andy Synn fronts the band in question. But I’m just so thrilled for him and his band that I honestly haven’t given a second thought to my decision to lead off with this new song and video. And it’s not just that the song and video are so good, it’s also that the video premiered on the day of an announcement that Beyond Grace had signed to Prosthetic Records for the release of their next album. Continue reading »

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